The Shining Eevee
by Asrialys
Summary: Something has been lost for years only to be found with 16yearold Christopher Parry. He tries to keep away from those who are after him, but soon realizes that he must fight in order return to his once peaceful life.
1. The Pokémon World Championship

The Shining Eevee  
By Animekid88

Author's Notes: In the beginning, the term, "champion," stands for a representative. The Pokémon World Championship comprises of a Champion representative from each region that enters. These representatives are nothing like Lance and Will from the games. Another note is that there are two announcers: radio and competition (the one in the very beginning).

Chapter 1: The Pokémon World Championships

"This is it folks!" The voice of the announcer resonated throughout the massive stadium, "After many days of intense and exciting pokémon battles, it is now the championship round of the 31st Pokémon World Championship held here on the Island of Champions. I would just like to say before the final match starts that it has been a great tournament these past few weeks. Can you believe that two years have already past since our last tournament and we're almost finished with this one? The intensity of these competitions just seems to make time go faster. After many qualifying battles and 30 final battles we are finally here, everybody, at the last match of the championship. Now tell me...ARE YOU READY FOR THE GREATEST POKÉMON BATTLE IN THE WORLD?!"

The crowd jumped out of their seats and went wild. The roar of the cheering caused many wild pokémon to scurry from their hiding places in many different directions. Flying pokémon startled by all the excitement flew high into the air, flooding the sky. To add to the cheering was the great explosion of fireworks coming from all around the stadium.

The announcer continued, "In today's exciting pokémon battle, we have an almost predictable match-up. Many times in the past there have been two regions that have been feeding us their Champions, whom have usually made it to the last rounds of this exciting competition. Most of the greatest trainers in the world have come from these two regions. Those two great regions, considered to be two of the biggest regions in the world, are the Rica Region and the Rusoh Region. This year, we actually have a returning finalist who lost the championship battle two years ago at our last competition. Representing the Rica Region, I introduce, or should I say reintroduce to you, Erik Croll of Beeche Town!"

The stadium shook with the cheering coming from the stands. Everyone's eyes were on the north wall of the stadium where a sliding door had just opened revealing the Rica Region Champion. A tall man in his mid-20s started to coolly walk onto field. This man had short brown hair that just settled on his head and carried lightly in the wind. His dark brown eyes stared across the field at the door on the south end, waiting to set sight on the opponent. He had a serious, confident look on his face that made everyone respect who he was instantly. To add to his mysteriousness, he wore a black, long coat over his black shirt and pants. As his long coat swayed in the light wind, a few objects shown in the sunlight from the inside of his jacket.

The audience started to quiet down as the announcer started to speak again. "Most of you might remember Erik Croll from the 30th Pokemon World Championship two years ago. He became the runner-up to that competition after losing the Championship match against Kanto Region Champion, Haruka Takahashi. That was one intense battle, but Erik Croll was unable to defeat Haruka and her pokémon. But now Erik is back and this time, he wants to win it all! We have seen Erik fly through his matches with ease without holding anything back, and you can sure bet that he will be as intense as ever in this match.

"Now let me introduce all of you to the Champion representing the Rusoh Region. This is the first World Championship that she has attended and she is only 15 years old. Everyone, I introduce you to the Rusoh Region Champion, Alexzia Markov of Mauve City!

Once again the stadium was in an uproar of cheers. Everyone watched the sliding doors on the south end open, revealing a person shrouded in shadow. A cute, young trainer started to walk out onto the field. She had long, black hair that reached halfway down her back. She was wearing a black shirt and wore baggy, khaki pants where she wore a poké ball belt featuring an assortment of different poké balls, each of them engraved with her initials in fancy writing on the top. As she walked out onto the field she waved at the cheering crowd. Then she set her light blue eyes onto her opponent who was just staring across at her with the same look on his face as when he entered. She stared back with a smile on her face and a look of confidence, showing no sign on being intimidated.

The announcer continued, "As most of you might know, Alexzia is an excellent trainer who is actually very skilled for her age. She is one of the best in her home region. Most of you might also know that her father, Ivan Markov, is on the World Pokémon Battles Committee, the organization that first started this tournament 62 years ago. Actually, her father is watching her from the skybox over there.

"That's enough for introductions, now let's get on with the Championship battle! If the combatants are ready, please choose your first pokémon and get ready to start the battle." Everyone watched in silence as the two trainers chose their poké ball, the Rican trainer putting his right arm on the inside of his coat and the Rusohan trainer happily pulling a black and yellow ball from her belt. "Have you made your choices? OK everyone, the moment you have all been waiting for! Let the Pokémon World Championship battle begin!"

Simultaneously, both trainers threw their poké balls and prepared for their greatest battle. As the poké balls flew through the air, they started to open. Even at the same time, two wild beams of white light shot out of the balls and hit the ground. The forms of the pokémon started to take shape in the bright light-

_Fzzt..._

Nothing, there was nothing there except the television screen that reflected a young boy with a look of complete horror and shock on his face. His mind was reeling with confusion and anger. He stood up from the sofa and turned around to see his mother, Melissa Parry, carrying a suitcase outside to the car. He hastily chased after her through the front door, out into their front yard and early morning sunlight.

"Why did you do that?" He almost yelled. "This is an important time for me. That competition only happens once every two years, you know. I've watched every one from when I was just a little kid and I don't plan on missing any anytime soon." He was furious but tried holding back because she was still his mother and had the power to ground or punish him, but what she was making him do now was already torture.

As she carefully placed the suitcase into the car she turned to face her 16-year-old son. "It's not so often we get to visit your grandma so far out in the countryside. Since it is your summer vacation, it's a perfect time for such a trip," she said calmly. "Besides, Christopher, I knew you would react like this so I asked Grandma to record the whole thing today. So when we get there, you can watch it whenever you want. Don't you record every one anyway?"

Christopher's anger was slightly lifted by this, but it still was not good enough for him. "But it's not the same! The Pokémon World Championship is shown live. Watching it live and watching a recording are two totally different things! Can't we just stay and watch it and then leave after it has ended? It shouldn't take long. It's obvious Erik will win because he's more experienced. From what I've seen Alexzia's pokémon aren't even that great. She just happened to face the weakest trainers in the competition."

His mother turned around and this time had a stern look her face. "Look, we have to leave early. You know as well as I do that the battle will last almost an hour. We do not have that much time. Remember, I have to drop a present off at the Cayman's before they leave for their vacation as well, and they can't be late for their flight. And remember that we have to get to Grandma's place as quickly as possible because her pokémon have just been through labor and the eggs could hatch anytime soon. She doesn't want us to miss it, and neither should we," said Christopher's mom. "Now go bring down your bag so we can get going."

"Maybe Grandma should record the hatching instead of the competition," Christopher mumbled. Then it struck him as he suddenly remembered the most important event of the year was still going on without him watching. He decided that he might be able to watch some of the battle in his room. He hastily turned around and was about to run to his room.

As he was about to run, he ran into something hard and nearly fell back onto the ground. Christopher rubbed his forehead and looked up to see his 19-year-old brother, Nicholas, looking down on him. His face was in shadow due to his World Championship souvenir cap. "I heard that. You better stop being so stubborn," his brother said lightly. Then said, while holding out a sports bag, "Oh, by the way, I brought down your bag, Chris. We've got to leave quickly. Don't want to miss Grandma's pokémon's babies now do we?"

Nicholas Parry was a tall, muscular young man with light brown eyes. Usually he would have his black hair spiked up, but after an incident at a local pokémon research lab, where he worked part-time, involving a wild, young vulpix, he lost his hair. The vulpix let out a weak ember that was still strong enough to burn Nicholas' hair and some of his scalp before being extinguished. He eventually shaved everything off, but the scorch marks were still visible, and it also gave off a faint smell of smoke. He would always where a cap to hide his burns.

Nicholas was an accomplished pokémon trainer and is known throughout his home region, Sohto. He has actually been chosen twice in a row to represent his region in the Pokémon World Championship, partly because the Sohto Region was small, but mostly because his and his brother's father and grandfather also had been past Champions for the Sohto Region. But Nicholas never made is as far as they did. The brothers' father and grandfather would make it into the top 32 qualifying for Finals. But Nicholas would get midway through the qualifying rounds before getting eliminated from the competition. But like his past predecessors, he would always stay calm and just shrug it off as a simple loss and hope to get further in the next one.

Nicholas had six pokémon, and only those six. He prefers to only train those six because they have been with him since he was young and would not prefer any other pokémon. His father, Joseph Parry, gave him his first pokémon, taillow, when he was 11. During Joseph's training, he would help Nicholas catch his five other pokémon: aron, abra, bulbasaur, chinchou, and cyndaquil, which was actually given to him by his grandfather. Christopher never got his first pokémon because their father past away the time he was old enough to get his own, and then their grandfather past away a year later from a heart condition. So Christopher never received a pokémon and, apparently, his mother wants him to finish his studies and graduate before getting one.

"Oh, thank you, Nicholas," said their mother, taking her youngest son's bag and setting it in the back seat of their car, then placed her eldest son's bag next to it on the floor. "Come on," she said as she ushered her youngest son into his seat, ignoring his protests. She calmly, but hurriedly, moved to the driver's side and got in. She started the car and was off towards her friend's home.

"It's just another pokémon competition," said Nicholas, looking back from the passenger seat. "Missing it is nothing to be sad about."

"Of course it's something to be sad about if you're missing it!" said Christopher. "But you don't think that it's anything at all because you've competed in it twice. Although you lost horribly, you've still been able to witness it in person. And I have to stay here and watch it through a TV screen."

"Calm down, Christopher," his mother said, "I don't want you to be in a bad mood when we see Grandma. We haven't seen her since your father's funeral six years ago because she lives so far. Since we can't afford any other transportation, we have to drive all the way to Lilac Town, and I don't want you to be in a bad mood throughout the whole trip." She started to slow the car down in front a house where a family was placing suitcases in their car. "I'll just give Mary her birthday present, and then we'll head off." She got out of the car with the present and walked towards a woman about the same age as her.

Christopher leaned back on his seat, flustered, and looked out towards the mountains. Their father past away six years ago in an incident at a pokémon lab. There was a small explosion, but it reacted with chemicals and started a massive fire. While everyone else was evacuating the building, he stayed behind to help out pokémon that were still trapped inside. Everyone and every pokémon made it out, except him and his own pokémon. Although Christopher did not receive as much attention as his older brother, he still loved his father and hoped to be like him some day.

"Ah, found it," Nicholas said cheerfully. He had been flipping through the radio channels. "Here you go, Chris, now you can listen to the announcer as he says what's happening."

"Holy muk!" the competition announcer yelled through the radio. "This is unbelievable!"

Christopher was now one the end of the seat listening intently to the radio. How could he have forgotten that there was also a live radio feed for the World Championship?

"This battle is just full of surprises!" the announcer continued, "It seems that young Alexzia is holding her own against the more experienced Erik. If you are just joining us, I'll fill you in on what has happened. Alexzia started with a blastoise while Erik started with an aggron. Although Erik was at a disadvantage, he was able to hold off blastoise and knock it out. Then Alexzia brought out her ninetales, which eventually took out aggron after another intense fight, but not without taking damage. Then Erik brought out his alakazam, one of his strongest pokémon. But Alexzia's slightly weakened ninetales was able to match alakazam's power, and knocked Erik's pokémon out. As Erik brought out his next pokémon, houndoom, Alexzia recalled ninetales and brought out mightyena. After the clashing of dark-type pokémon, Erik's houndoom ended it with a powerful flamethrower. Then Alexzia brought out ninetales again and knocked out houndoom, but ninetales also fainted from exhaustion. And just a few minutes ago we watched Alexzia's dragonite easily defeat Erik's magneton. Who knew she had such a powerful and rare pokémon?"

"Well, it looks like you've found something to occupy yourself with," the boys' mother said as she got into the car. But Christopher was too preoccupied to even hear her. Nicholas smiled as her and shrugged. She then got into the car and continued down the road.

"What will be Erik's next pokémon?" the announcer said. Christopher waited impatiently for the announcer to reveal what pokémon is sent out next. _"Erik has thrown his poké ball, and it's a machamp. Now Alexzia has recalled her dragonite. Now she is holding another poké ball, but hasn't revealed what's inside it yet. This is odd. Alexzia is walking backwards towards the wall. She's not showing any signs of forfeiting so she must be planning something. Now she's leaning back and looks like she's about to throw her poké ball. What's this? She has thrown it high up into the air. Whoa! It's huge! It's - it's - what in the world? It's a wailord!"_ Christopher now had both of his hands wrapped together and was shaking with excitement. Nicholas couldn't help but laugh at his little brother. "The wailord was released about 45 feet in the air and is now hurtling down towards the ground. I guess it's unfortunate that since this is actually a new stadium, we haven't finished building in the alternate fields yet. Anyway, I think Alexzia is planning to make a huge earthquake; she is now kneeling on the ground. Here it comes! Wow! Alexzia has just jumped up to escape the earthquake as her wailord came crashing down. But it seems like Erik and his machamp had the same idea, as they are both in the air now. But the stadium is still shaking from wailord's crashing into the ground. There is now a huge indent on the field where wailord has landed. Good thing he didn't fall through because that's where the alternate fields are. Now wailord is bending back and opening its gigantic mouth towards machamp, which is still descending from its jump. It just shot a massive jet of water! The jet of water has just engulfed machamp and is now flying over the stands at a very high speed. Fortunately, and unfortunately, the back walls of our stadium are high; otherwise, Erik's machamp would have flown out of the stadium. Wailord is still letting on the water assault and won't let machamp go. The wall behind machamp is starting to crack and crumble! Now wailord has stopped, leaving Erik's machamp soaked. Machamp seems to be knocked out. Wow! Good thing Alexzia stopped the attack; the wall behind machamp has just crumbled. Now Erik has only one pokémon left while Alexzia has three, two of which are dragonite and wailord. Alexzia has now recalled wailord, and now we wait as both trainers choose their next pokémon. I would just like to say that it just amazes me as how Erik still looks calm after loosing most of his pokémon. Perhaps he can win this."

"This is unbelievable!" Christopher said, shocked. "How can Erik be losing to a child?"

"You're the same age," Nicholas said, knowing that his brother hated being referred to as a child. But it fell on deaf ears, as Christopher was too absorbed into the radio as the announcer continued.

"With the help of competition employees, Erik's machamp has been brought back to its trainer, who has just recalled it into its poké ball. Now both trainers are holding their poké balls, preparing for what might be the final fight. Here we go! Alexzia's pokémon is scizor. Wow, she has a lot of powerful pokémon. Erik's final pokémon is - is an arcanine. Erik now has a slight advantage. But after watching this battle, I don't think weaknesses are an issue here. It seems as though Alexzia has ordered her scizor to attack arcanine head on. Arcanine is also running at scizor. As both pokémon got really close to each other, scizor split into many scizor surrounding arcanine. Scizor's agility is incredible! Arcanine can't find where scizor is. What's this? From behind, scizor has just successfully hit arcanine with a powerful metal claw and is again circling arcanine at an incredible speed, but arcanine is still standing there. If arcanine can't land a hit, Alexzia will be the new Pokémon World Champion. What the - arcanine is now surrounded by its own fire. The fire is growing. Now arcanine is - roaring? Arcanine's body seems to be erupting flames now! Wow! Arcanine is now engulfed in its own flames! Incredible! Now it looks like arcanine just released its flames all around it, making it look like a wild fire down there. I can feel the heat coming into my skybox. I have never seen such a devastating attack come from any pokémon." Christopher was still trembling with excitement and with a little fear. He wondered if a pokémon could even survive such an attack. The announcer continued. "The fire is starting to clear out, but not without leaving the center of the field totally scorched and black. I almost feel sorry for the people who have to tend to this field. This field has already been battered all over, and it's new. Our last Finals stadium was destroyed in the last competition when a crazy electrode wouldn't faint after several exploding several times. Now let's return to this battle. I can't see Alexzia's scizor. Oh no. If scizor has been incinerated, then Erik would be disqualified as well as be in big trouble with the Committee. Oh, there it is! Scizor is lying in the center of the field. Its body is black and also bright red. Alexzia is now beside her scizor. If you are watching this on television, you probably should look away. Alexzia is crying and trying to hold onto her scizor, but scizor's steel coating is at too high of a temperature. Medics are now entering the field, and Alexzia's father is right behind them." Christopher was shocked. He wondered how could anyone do that to a pokémon. Nicholas, with his attention now focused onto the radio, was also stunned. Then the PokéGear on his left wrist started to ring.

"Hmmm...it's from Professor Redwood," Nicholas said before answering it. Professor Redwood was Nicholas' employer at the pokémon research lab back home in Clover Town, and was also a well renowned professor. Professor Redwood and Joseph Parry used to work together when they were young. "Hello, Professor."

"Good morning, Nicholas," came the professor's voice through the PokéGear. "I'm sorry to both you, but may I ask where you are?"

"Well, we've long left Clover Town and have just driven through Kernelle City, which we're about to exit actually," replied Nicholas.

"Oh, good, I thought you would be about there," said the professor. "I had forgotten you were leaving with your family. I have finished writing a report and called your house to find no one was home. I was actually going to ask you to go to Kernelle City to run an errand for me. Now that I've found out you're there, I was wondering if you could still pick up something for me."

"What?" Nicholas said, surprised. "I'm on vacation with my mother and brother, you can't just call me back and run an errand for you. Besides, can't you just get it delivered to you?"

"They don't deliver, even if it's just a few miles away," the professor said. "Please, this is important for my research. I promise I could get you a taxi to take you from there, to my lab, and to your grandmother's home as quickly as possible. I'll even pay for it." Then he added, "By the way, are you and Christopher listening to the World Championship? It's pretty brutal."

"Yeah, we're listening to it," Nicholas said. "Very well, I'll do it." His mother stopped the car to let Nicholas out. "Sorry, Mom, I've got to help Professor Redwood. Chris, tell me how the Championship ends when I return, OK?"

"James, how dare you take my son from his vacation," Melissa called to the professor jokingly.

"Sorry, Melissa, but I need his help," Professor Redwood said. "And hello, Christopher, if you are there."

"Hi, Professor," Christopher replied. Currently, nothing had changed in the Championship. They were still trying to take Alexzia's scizor off the field and to a Pokémon Center. He watched as his older brother waved and walked away, back into the city.

"Well, let's go," his mother said. "Hope Nicholas makes it to Grandma's house in time."

"Now we're back," the announcer finally said. "We were finally able to cool down scizor's body and take it to the Pokémon Center. Alexzia has returned to her spot, but is now on her knees, crying. Her father, Ivan Markov, is beside her, trying to console her. Through my television monitor, I can see that Erik still has the same emotionless look. It's almost like he doesn't care what happened to Alexzia's scizor. What's even more surprising is that his arcanine doesn't look a bit exhausted from its last attack, which must have taken a lot of energy to perform. For now, I will tell those of you who have just joined us what has happened, but I must say, if you are listening to a radio, you should be watching this." Christopher felt a slight twinge as he remembered how he was so rudely taken away from the television.

Christopher felt sorry for Alexzia. Watching your own pokémon go through something like that must feel like getting your heart ripped at, he thought to himself. He was wondering how, or if, Alexzia will still continue the battle after such an anguishing incident. He also thought of how Erik could just stand there without any remorse. Christopher didn't think that there could be a trainer so heartless.

"What is wrong with that guy?" Christopher thought aloud. "I remember watching him two years ago at the last Championship. His pokémon were powerful, but not this powerful. And his personality was never like this."

"Losing sometimes changes people," his mother said. "And sometimes, it can greatly affect a person. Maybe losing the last one changed him so much that his whole character changed. But it is strange that his pokémon has so much power, and is able to use it without getting tired. You would think that -"

"Shh," Christopher interrupted. He moved his eyes to look up to see his mother looking at him sternly. He looked away quickly and put his attention towards the radio as the announcer returned.

"It looks like Alexzia is going to get up now. Perhaps she still wants to continue this battle after such a traumatizing experience. Through my monitor I can see that she is still crying, but her expression has changed. She has her fists clenched tightly and she looks really angry. She is glaring at Erik, who seems to taking great pleasure from her anger, as now there is a slight smile on his face. Alexzia only has two pokémon left: dragonite and wailord. Although she has more powerful pokémon, it seems as though both trainers are equally matched. Now it looks like Alexzia has calmed down, but still looks angry.

"She is now clutching her poké ball. I wonder what she'll use to defeat Erik's arcanine. Oh, I think we've seen this before: Alexzia is bending back and has her arm with the poké ball held behind her head. Like last time, she has just thrust it high into the air to release her wailord. This could be it! What in the world? Erik's arcanine has just run up to the middle of the field right under where wailord is being released, and seems to be powering up again, as there are now flames once again surrounding its body. What?! Wailord's poké ball has just released wailord upward, making it go higher, but this time, wailord is facing downward! Wailord is starting to descend quickly and is opening its wide mouth. It has just let out a massive blast, much bigger than the one for Erik's machamp, and is heading straight for the flaming arcanine. Arcanine's fire is growing around its body and has totally engulfed it!" the announcer exclaimed and started to speak faster. "Wailord's powerful water attack has successfully struck arcanine. I can't even see arcanine because of wailord's attack. Arcanine must be unable to move from all the pressure. Wailord is descending fast and is about to land where arcanine is trapped. Here it comes! What the - wailord has just been shot straight back up into the air in a blaze of fire. And arcanine is still where it has been, and doesn't seemed to be harmed at all. But it looks like it's panting, which must mean that it's starting to get tired. But whatever it did went too quickly for me to see. Right now we're about to get an instant replay in slow motion. But right now, Alexzia seems to be screaming again from seeing her pokémon, which is still on fire, so easily launched into the air. Wailord has just come back down and has been recalled into its poké ball before it hit the ground. Alexzia seems to have dropped wailord's poké ball and is clutching her hand with the other. If I'm not mistaken, wailord's poké ball seems to be smoking. Once again, medics are now entering the field and have let wailord out of its poké ball. Wailord is scorched just like Alexzia's scizor. Is that sound coming from wailord?" Christopher could hear a deep wailing coming through the radio. It could only have been Alexzia's wailord in agony. Christopher's mother was starting to cry herself from listening to such a sad and agonizing song.

"Oh, here is the instant replay," the announcer said. "Before wailord reached the ground, there seemed to be a barrier of fire pushing up wailord's water attack and then suddenly quickly exploding upwards, sending wailord flying back up. I can't tell whether arcanine shielded itself with its flaming barrier or if it was able to just evaporate the water as soon it got near it. Arcanine doesn't seem to be wet at all. But it has started to look exhausted.

"Alexzia is beside her wailord, crying and hugging it. The audience has been stunned to silence after that display. They must be thinking the same thing I, as well as everyone listening or watching, am thinking: how could anyone injure any pokémon that way? What has happened to Alexzia's scizor and wailord is just too cruel. And yet, Erik is still just standing there with his arcanine, waiting for Alexzia's last pokémon. He still has that crooked smile across his face, as if he takes pleasure in people's pain. I remembered watching him at the last competition when he used to look like a friendly trainer. Now it seems as though he has become cold-hearted and strangely powerful these past two years. Most of you are probably thinking that his arcanine has been somehow enhanced, which is illegal of course. But we always run tests on each pokémon registered for this competition to make sure there aren't any such pokémon used," the announcer explained.

"That's exactly what I was thinking about -" Christopher's mother said, but was once again rudely hushed by her son. But he was lucky that his mother was usually mellow.

"But none of Erik's pokémon were found positive for any kind of ability enhancement. Well, I guess those two have been training extremely hard for the past two years. But arcanine's power is still questionable in my opinion.

"Good, it seems as though wailord has finally been calmed down, returned to its poké ball, and is now being taken to the Pokémon Center. Alexzia also seems to have calmed down, but according to my monitor, she is still crying. She has two severely burned pokémon in the Pokémon Center, both placed there by Erik and his arcanine. Will Alexzia's dragonite be able to stop arcanine?

"Alexzia now has her final poké ball in her hand. She seems to be hesitating. Perhaps she is thinking about forfeiting? If I were her, I would want revenge for scizor and wailord. Even the crowd is cheering her on and also jeering at Erik just as loudly. But there he is, still with the same smile, beside his arcanine, which seems to have passed its exhaustion and is now ready to fight again. It all comes down to this final battle. Who will win the title of Pokémon World Champion?"


	2. The Pokémon World Champion

Chapter 2: The Pokémon World Champion

"Scizor. Wailord," Alexzia Markov said to herself with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm sorry for what you both have been through. You both did great these past few weeks. I promise I will avenge both of you. I will not allow such a mean trainer to win this competition. I will win." Then she said loudly, "I _will_ win!"

_What a naive little girl,_ Erik Croll thought to himself. He looked at his PokéGear, which was on timer mode. _I should get this over quickly. Why doesn't she hurry up if she wants revenge so bad? It's inevitable anyway. She doesn't realize that arcanine is much too powerful to be defeated. But I am running out of time._

Both trainers stared at each other across the field. The way it looked, it was as if they were the last trainers in the world, fighting the battle that would ultimately decide who is superior. They were only aware of each other, nothing else. The only thing that mattered was this moment, this battle.

_I have to win,_ Alexzia thought to herself. _If I don't, I'll not only be letting down my home region, but also my pokémon. This victory will be for them. She held her dragonite's poké ball to her chest. After this, we'll all happily go back home and forget this horrible battle ever happened. Now..._

"Go, dragonite!" Alexzia called out. She threw her poké ball straight at arcanine, which was already waiting, ready to finish this battle.

The poké ball opened, and with all its speed, dragonite came out and flew head on towards arcanine, skimming only inches from the ground, and letting out a mighty bellow at the same time. Arcanine reacted quickly, and at its trainer's command, unleashed a flamethrower right at dragonite. Dragonite quickly dodged right, sped up, dodged another flamethrower, and attempted to tackle arcanine from the side. But arcanine jumped straight up and blasted another flamethrower down where dragonite would be. But dragonite sped up even more and swiftly flew right under arcanine, barely evading the flamethrower. Then dragonite spun around, touched ground, kicked off, and flew straight back at the airborne arcanine. This time arcanine used a massive fire spin. But dragonite sped up again and flew straight through it, tackling arcanine in mid-air, sending it flying, and then skidding across the field.

"What's wrong, Erik?" Alexzia taunted. "Did you underestimate the abilities of me and my pokémon? Where is your arcanine's power now, hmm? Even if your arcanine tried, dragonite would just as quickly attack arcanine before it has time to power up. Dragonite could also just as easily evade any attack with its speed. Admit it, you've met your match."

_What an arrogant child,_ Erik thought to himself. He watched as his arcanine got up from the ground and shake itself. It was ready to continue and looked as if dragonite's attack didn't cause much damage, if any at all. Erik smiled as he noticed a surprised look on both dragonite and Alexzia. _I still have more surprises in store._

"Arcanine. Get up and get ready!" Erik ordered. Arcanine instantly obeyed and carefully watched dragonite, which was now standing on the ground, staring back. "Now arcanine! Take dragonite down with your extreme speed"

Arcanine hunched back slowly, getting ready to spring forward. Dragonite also got ready by spreading out its small wings and bending its legs, getting ready to jump back into the air. Arcanine growled and launched forward, and with its incredible speed, arcanine looked like a faint blur speeding towards dragonite. Dragonite, surprised by such incredible speed, attempted to jump up and take flight. But as he jumped into the air, the black and orange blur jumped off the ground and hit dragonite right in the chest. Dragonite got its wind knocked out of it as it was impaled to the ground, and was pinned down by arcanine. To Alexzia's horror she heard Erik command arcanine.

"Do it, arcanine," Erik said, chuckling.

The ominous sight returned for the third time. Arcanine's body began to erupt with flames. Dragonite couldn't move, no matter how hard it struggled. Arcanine had pinned down dragonite's arms and legs, leaving dragonite immobile. The only thing dragonite could do as it was almost completely enveloped in a burning dome was roar loudly, rattling the entire stadium. Dragonite felt like it was in a massive inferno, one that would never end. It could feel its body blister and smolder. Dragonite slowly lifted its head to look at arcanine. It was so full of hatred, and its eyes were just as bright as the fire surrounding them both.

"What are you doing? You - you'll kill him! N - no, dra - dragonite!" Alexzia cried. She was on her hands and knees, watching helplessly as her dragonite was nearly engulfed in the bright red flames. Then she screamed, "NO! DRAGONITE! HYPER BEAM!"

All of a sudden a bright white light could be seen forming inside the flaming dome. Then breaking through the bright red dome came a miraculous ray of white light. It continued far into the sky. But something was wrong. There was no pokémon pushed back by the beam of light. The hyper beam had broken the dome of fire and now there was nothing but burning grass. But they were still there. Arcanine still had dragonite pinned. Arcanine had moved its head to the right at the last second, making the hyper beam pass by its head by just a few inches. But the hyper beam was able to leave a scorch mark on the right side of arcanine's head.

"It - it missed?" Alexzia choked. "That can't be possible. Arcanine was right on top of dragonite. There is no way..."

"Ha!" Erik mocked. "You didn't think that we were that easy did you? I think you will see that you are outmatched. We are always a step ahead, predicting everything you will attempt. Now...shall we continue?"

Arcanine was still leaning over to its right after dodging the hyper beam. Dragonite saw this and quickly rolled to its left, bringing up its right arm and using much of its energy to land a punch on arcanine, making it stumble off dragonite. Dragonite slowly got up, wincing from pain every time it moved. Its whole body ached and the blisters on its feet hurt as it tried to stand up. Dragonite stood and faced arcanine, which was still on its feet and was now growling at dragonite.

"Dragonite?" Alexzia said weakly. At the sight of her dragonite standing, she jumped up to her feet. But was saddened at the state her dragonite was in. "Dragonite, I am so sorry to have put you through this. You have done your best, but I don't think we should continue this." She held out dragonite's poké ball.

But dragonite shook its head in disagreement. It still wanted to fight. Dragonite still had some energy left to spare. Both arcanine and dragonite glared at each other. They were both panting from exhaustion. But it was hard to tell if arcanine was actually as tired as dragonite.

Erik looked at the timer on his PokéGear again. _This has gone on too long. I have to finish this as quickly as possible,_ he thought to himself. Then he said, "Arcanine, finish this with another extreme speed."

"Dragonite, jump and fly, quick," Alexzia said as she saw arcanine get ready to pounce.

Dragonite spread its wings and jumped, but it struggled to fly. It was wasting too much of its energy trying to flap its wings and get higher into the air. Arcanine was once again a black and orange blur gliding above the ground, but this time, it seemed slower. Dragonite could easily see arcanine's movements. As arcanine jumped up at dragonite, dragonite forced itself to fly higher; just enough to have arcanine go under. As arcanine was about to fly under dragonite, dragonite stopped flapping, fell out of the air, grabbed arcanine in mid-air from the top, and plummeted to the ground with arcanine held tightly to its belly. Arcanine roared loudly as it couldn't break free from dragonite's grip. But it was in a bad position. Dragonite was holding arcanine from behind. Arcanine would hit the ground end-first.

"Come on, dragonite! Body slam arcanine!" Alexzia cheered.

Dragonite let out a mighty bellow and slightly increased its speed with a flap from its wings. They hit the ground, causing dust to rise and cover them. Both Alexzia and Erik waited with anticipation. As the dust settled they could see two dark forms slowly moving. Arcanine and dragonite were struggling to stand up. Both were greatly weakened, but refused to give up. They were now panting heavily, stumbling from the difficulty of keeping their balance to stand.

"No," Alexzia said. "How long can dragonite keep this up? And how is that arcanine still standing after using so much power and taking such beating?"

"Arcanine, flamethrower!" Erik commanded to Alexzia's surprise. Arcanine roared and blasted a flamethrower at dragonite.

"What? Dragonite, use dragon breath!" Alexzia yelled. Dragonite opened its mouth and let out a blast of blue flame at arcanine.

Both attacks collided with equal force, causing them to explode on collision. The force of the explosion caused both pokémon to stumble backwards and nearly collapse. Both pokémon could feel it. They had nearly depleted their energy and would not be able to use any of their respective attacks.

Alexzia knew her dragonite would not be able to use any other attacks except physical attacks. She could see that dragonite had a hard enough time standing. Erik also noticed that his arcanine would not be able to use another fire attack without losing all its energy. Now both trainers knew that this battle had come down to which pokémon was the toughest.

"Arcanine, tackle!" Erik yelled. Arcanine started off weakly, but began to run at dragonite.

"Dragonite, just wait a little longer," Alexzia calmly said, watching as arcanine closed in on her pokémon. "Now, dragonite, side step, swing around, and use your tail." Dragonite spun to the left while bringing up its tail as the tackling arcanine pounced. Dragonite used the force of its spin to strike arcanine with its tail, causing arcanine to fly back and land on its side. As arcanine struggled to stand up, dragonite slowly walked towards arcanine. As dragonite was about to punch arcanine, arcanine ducked low and tackled dragonite to the ground. Both pokémon continued rolling over the ground, trying to knock out the other.

"What is going on?" Alexzia said to herself. "This is no longer a normal pokémon battle. This is just a horrible fight." She started to cry again as she saw her dragonite cry out in pain after being bitten on the side by arcanine. "I can't stand to watch this any longer. No championship title is worth this."

Although neither pokémon planned on giving up, they were both losing consciousness, and would collapse soon. It just came down to which one would collapse first.

"I must say that I'm impressed with how well you have done against me," Erik said to Alexzia. "But my arcanine is still stronger than your dragonite. Now quit being so stubborn and give up." Then he looked at his PokéGear again and said to himself, "This is getting too close. I really must finish this now." Then he yelled, "Arcanine, let's finish this -"

"No! Please stop," Alexzia pleaded. She held up her dragonite's poké ball and recalled her dragonite. Then she said to herself, "It isn't worth it. I'm sorry, my friends, but I don't want any of you to go through anymore of this." She looked up at Erik with hatred and said, "I forfeit. I can't let my pokémon go through this anymore. You are too cruel. How can you do that to pokémon? Weren't you worried that you could have done serious damage, or worse, to my pokémon? Were you even worried about your own pokémon? Look at your arcanine. You made is use so much power, but still forced it to continue. What kind of trainer are you?"

"The kind that will do anything to win, no matter the costs," Erik said as he recalled his arcanine back into its poké ball. "You were lucky that this was a competition." Then the new Pokémon World Champion walked off, leaving Alexzia stunned.


	3. Katherine Meleski

Chapter 3: Katherine Meleski

"There it is folks! The Pokémon World Championship is finally over. After an exciting battle, your new Pokémon World Champion is Erik Croll of the Rica Region. Please join us later tonight for the live coverage of the awards ceremony," the radio announcer said. Then with that, the radio broadcast of the Championship ended.

"Wow, that was intense," Christopher said, sighing loudly. "I can't believe Alexzia gave up. But I guess it was the right thing."

"I'm just glad that it's over," his mother said. "That was a horrible battle. I think both trainers were pushing their pokémon too hard, especially Erik."

Christopher started to feel cramped in the car, so he got out and stepped onto the pier. During the Championship, his mother was lucky enough to find a small ferry in East Amarill Port that would take them across the river. If they had not found the ferry, Christopher and his mother would have had to drive further along the river to get to the bridge two towns over. Just now, they had been sitting in their car, listening to the Championship, while waiting for the departure time.

There was still some time before they left so Christopher walked the streets of West Amarill Port. West Amarill, and its sister port across the river, East Amarill, were small port towns that mainly served as rest stops for those who sailed the neighboring river. There were several small shops and motels. At first sight, both ports would probably just look like small rural villages, but, on the contrary, they were lively. There were many boating and fishing businesses across the piers. One major difference was that West Amarill had its own small pokémon battle stadium where sailors could take a rest from the sailing and battle other sailors in tournaments to win prizes or money.

Christopher sat down on a bench and looked up into the cloudy, blue sky full of wingull, pelipper, and various other flying pokémon. Then he watched as many trainers walked around with their pokémon. He saw some pokémon help around their trainer's store and some helping to build small boats. Christopher always found it interesting to watch people and pokémon work together instead of always battling.

Christopher got up and walked toward the stadium. As he walked closer, the cheering from the stadium got louder. There was a tournament going on. He wanted to go inside and watch for a while, but then he saw a sign showing the entry fee. Disappointed, he turned around and walked back towards the docks.

"Hey, kid. Wanna battle?" Christopher turned around to see a muscular sailor with a machoke at his side. The sailor said, "I sure could use a lil' sparring before I compete in tomarra's tournament."

"Er...sorry, sir," Christopher replied. "But I don't have any pokémon."

"What? No pokémon, eh?" the sailor said, grunting, which sounded like a choked laugh to Christopher. "I fig'red a young one like you might be a trainer. Guess not. Well, g'bye then." Both the sailor and his machoke turned and walked away. Christopher watched as they then challenged another sailor.

Christopher was used to things like this, where trainers ask him to battle, but must always turn them down. But he was still hurt by the fact that he didn't have a pokémon of his own. Christopher continued toward the docks, staring at the ground most of the way. All of a sudden, the noise of an explosion came from behind him. At first, he thought it was just the battle of the two sailors. But when he turned around, he saw a plume of smoke rising from the stadium. Christopher looked around and noticed that the attention of the townspeople faded quickly away from the plume, and then continued their own business. He found out why.

"It must be that girl again," Christopher heard an old lady say as she walked into a store.

Christopher was curious and decided to go back to the stadium to see if he could find out what happened. He figured he had enough time after walking past a clock post. He hurried his pace when he saw other trainers gathering in front of the stadium. The smoke had disappeared by the time he got there. He noticed that a group of trainers were gathered around something. He approached and heard a voice coming from a radio.

"Well, it seems as - _schh_ - has won again. And, as usual, made a mess - _schh_ - field. Good thing it's just a dirt field. Anyway, - _schh_ - join us tomorrow for another tournament where the prize is - _schh_ -" That was last thing said. Christopher decided to head back to the ferry as the group started to complain about the town's bad reception.

"Alright, you two ready to go?" said the owner of the small ferry.

"Yes," Christopher's mother replied, making sure the car was secure and would not roll. "We can go now."

Christopher was at the bow, leaning forward over the side of the ship, looking out onto the wide river. He looked down into the clear, blue water and was able to see a few water pokémon as they swam near the surface. The sailor turned on the engine and started to leave the dock when a girl's voice called out to his boat.

"Wait! Excuse me," said the girl. She was about the same height as Christopher and might have been the same age. She wore dark blue pants and a black t-shirt with a red insignia on it. She had long brown hair that she wore in one long ponytail. "Please wait, I need to get across this river." She jumped onboard just as the boat slowed down.

The sailor left the helm to see who it was. "Oh, I was wondering if you'd be coming back to the other side with me. Well, pay the fare and we'll be off." As she paid, he said, "From here, I saw that you won your tournament. Never seen a girl so destructive 'cept my sister."

"Thank you, I guess. I did make quite a mess," she said before the sailor pocketed the money and returned to the helm. She looked around the boat and saw Christopher's mother, who she greeted with a smile. Then she saw Christopher, who had walked to the back of the boat to see who had joined them. "Hi, name's Katherine Meleski. You can call me Kat," she said with a smile while holding out her hand.


	4. Lilac Town

Chapter 4: Lilac Town

Er...hi, my name's Christopher Parry," Christopher said, shaking her hand. "And I guess you could call me Chris."

"Okay, Chris," she said with a smile. "So, where are you headed?"

"I'm going to my grandmother's in Lilac Town," Christopher said. Then he remembered something he had overheard. "Did I hear the owner of the boat say that you had won a tournament?"

"Yeah, I just won West Amarill's last tournament. But those trainers were weak. Oh, did you see that giant cloud of smoke I made?" she asked.

"That was you?" Christopher asked, surprised. "What did you do to cause that to happen?"

"Well, I was battling this one weak sailor. I was winning three pokémon against his only one left: onix. I got bored and decided to make things interesting. So I sent out my electrode," she explained. "My electrode was too fast for the sailor's onix. Electrode played around with onix by quickly rolling around it in circles. Then I let onix get my electrode in a bind. The sailor thought he had won; he was jumping up and down and cheering." Katherine let out a short laugh and said, "Then I told my electrode to self-destruct. The look on that sailor's face as he saw his onix defeated was priceless."

"Wow, your pokémon must be pretty strong," Christopher said. "But isn't it kind of dangerous to use an attack like that up close?" Christopher imagined the boulders of onix's body scattered all over the stadium. He quickly shook the horrible scene out of his mind, thinking that it was just too terrible to think about.

"I guess, but I've trained my pokémon well," she said. "I've trained my electrode to know just how much power to use to get the job done. It would have been crazy to self-destruct with all its power while being held by another pokémon. By the way, what kind of pokémon do you have?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have any pokémon of my own," Christopher told Katherine, successfully making it sound like it did not matter. Christopher wondered why he had not gone through a depression yet after being asked this question so many times. He thought back to his home where most of his friends had already started their own pokémon journey while he stayed at home, finishing school. He was one of a greatly reduced class of 47. Even the students who still attend school had pokémon. "I never got my first pokémon. But my older brother did, and he's actually a really good trainer."

"What? You're kidding," she said with disbelief. "You're a teenager, right? Maybe even my age, and you don't have your own pokémon? How can you not have a pokémon? Who _doesn't_ have a pokémon?" She calmed down and said with a light laugh, "Sorry about that. I was just totally surprised by that." Then she remembered something Christopher had said. "Wait. Parry? Your brother wouldn't happen to be Nicholas Parry, this region's Champion representative, would he?"

Christopher was not shocked when people asked him that. Everyone knew that many Parry's had been chosen to represent the Sohto region several times in the past. Christopher nodded and said, "Yeah, that's my older brother."

"Wow, that's really neat! Your family is known for having good pokémon trainers," Katherine said. "But that just makes this even weirder. Your family is known for great trainers. Yet you don't have any pokémon of your own. What's wrong? Are you not -" she caught herself before finishing the question. "Oh, sorry, I speak my mind too much."

"It's okay. I actually get that a lot back home," Christopher said, leaning over the side again to look over the calm river. "But I'm used to it. Then again, I guess it is kind of sad."

"Hey, everyone," the sailor yelled from the helm. "We'll be docking in a few minutes, so get ready."

"By the way, where are you headed?" Christopher asked.

"No where in particular. I just go wherever my journey leads me," Katherine said. "It's your summer vacation isn't it? Are you just visiting your grandmother or what?"

The sailor had turned the boat around and was reversing into the harbor of East Amarill Port. Christopher watched as his mother got into the car and prepare to drive onto the pier. Christopher decided to walk off with Katherine so they could talk some more. "Well, my grandmother's pokémon just laid some eggs a couple days ago. My mother and I are going there to watch them hatch and help take care of them."

"Really?" Katherine said. "That sounds like fun. What kind of pokémon does your grandmother have?"

"Her own pokémon is a vaporeon. The other used to belong to my grandfather before he past away. That pokémon is an umbreon," Christopher explained. "So I guess their eggs will hatch baby eevee."

Katherine gasped and said, "Eevee? Those are so cute, and so are their evolutions. I think eevee are so cool because they can evolve into five different pokémon. Your grandmother is so lucky. Hey, how many eggs did her pokémon lay? Do you think she'll be able to give me one of her eevee?"

"I don't know how many there are," Christopher said. "And she probably won't give you one because she doesn't even know you." Christopher laughed lightly when Katherine pouted jokingly.

They had finally docked. Christopher's mother started the car and slowly reversed the car onto the pier. Christopher and Katherine walked off together and continued talking. East Amarill Port looked just like its sister city across the river, except there was no stadium. It still seemed to be busy, but it did not look like there was as much energy flowing through the quiet port town than the one across the river.

"Well, I guess you have to go," Katherine said with a smile. "It was nice meeting you."

Christopher looked at his mother waiting in the car and saw her smile and nod. "Hey, why don't you come with us," Christopher said. "You said you aren't really going anywhere. You could come with us and watch the eggs hatch."

"Really?" Katherine said excitedly. "That would be great. Thank you."

The both walked toward the car and Christopher opened the back door for Katherine. Then Christopher got in the front seat, and then they drove eastward towards Lilac Town. Christopher and Katherine continued to talk about pokémon and other topics as they left the port town. The crescent moon was already visible as the sun started its descent through the blue, clear sky.

"And there you have it, everyone," the president of the Championship said. "After many weeks of intense pokémon battles and the fiercest Championship battle in this competition's history, the Pokémon World Championship has finally come to a close. I would like to thank all those who watched or listened, and I would especially like to thank those of you who competed. Without you all, this competition wouldn't be possible. Good night, everyone, and I hope you all watch the 32nd Pokémon World Championship in two years." With that final statement, the Pokémon World Championship ended.

Christopher, his mother, and Katherine had been listening to the radio broadcast. They had stopped at a gas station in Florville City, a neighboring city of Lilac Town. Christopher's mother did not want to risk running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. She had forgotten just how far Lilac Town was because she had not been there in years.

"You know, that Erik has really strong pokémon," Katherine said after Christopher turned the radio to a music station. "If I had pokémon that powerful, I'd probably be unstoppable."

"I don't know," Christopher said. "Erik seemed to be purposely, and happily, hurting Alexzia's pokémon. It's like he didn't care if her pokémon were hospitalized for good, or even worse." Christopher then shook the thought of what "worse" meant from his mind.

"Well, he did seem to overdo it a bit, but I bet he knew what he was doing the whole time," Katherine said assuredly. "He probably just wanted to show off his pokémon. Who wouldn't want to show off pokémon like that?"

"Well, I guess," Christopher said with uncertainty. "But not in that way. That was too horrible for just 'showing off.'"

As Christopher and Katherine continued talking, Melissa Parry began driving down the road towards Lilac Town after refilling the tank. The sun was now just above the tall mountains in the distance. They were in the far countryside now. The prairies reached far in every direction and wild pokémon could be seen roaming. Pokémon trainers could be seen battling other trainers or playing with their pokémon.

It took about an hour to finally reach Lilac Town from Florville City. The sun was starting to creep behind the mountains. Lilac Town was a quiet and peaceful town surrounded by lush, green fields filled with many colorful, sweet-scented flowers, which seemed to be in the care and the play place of many pokémon, especially bug pokémon. Big trees were spread out throughout the surrounding fields, casting giant shadows good enough to lie under and look up into the diminishing, blue sky.

There were not many houses in Lilac Town. It was rare to find a town like this, with no big businesses or industries to disturb the peace. The town was more like a place where anyone could stay in without any disturbances, where everyone can relax and ignore the world outside the peaceful town. Many old folks found this quiet town an ideal place to spend the rest of their lives in.

Although it had been years since he last visited, Christopher thought that Lilac Town had not changed a bit. As he looked at the familiar sight, he recalled memories in which he used to play with his family in the fields. He remembered when he would also play with his father's pokémon. Christopher used to ride on his father's rapidash and, when his mother was not looking, Christopher would fly through the air by riding on the back of his father's pidgeot. Christopher remembered how frighteningly fun it was to fly through the air at high speeds without being able to get his arms around pidgeot's neck for a good hold. Fortunately, his father later made a soft, thin, but strong, neck-strap for pidgeot so that Christopher had something to grab on too.

"Wow, this place is beautiful," Katherine said, marveling at the scenery around her.

"Yes, it is," said Christopher's mother as she continued to drive through the town. She drove down further and stopped in front of a two-story house. This house was surrounded by a small, white picket fence with the gate right on the flat, stone walkway that lead to the wooden patio where the light blue front door was. Guarding the circumference of the house were several gardens, which contained berries, vegetables, and flowers of every kind.

"We're finally here," Christopher sighed, and then noticed as a light blue pokémon came out from behind the house, accompanied by a dark-colored pokémon with faint, yellow stripes.


	5. The Sixth Pokémon Egg

Chapter 5: The Sixth Pokémon Egg

"Hello, you two," Christopher greeted vaporeon and umbreon happily as he entered the gate.

Vaporeon and umbreon were both old pokémon. But they ran up to Christopher as if they were young again. These two, as eevee, were the very first pokémon of Christopher's grandparents. It was during the 15th Pokémon World Championship when Fred Parry of the Sohto Region met the woman he would marry, who was also the first Champion to represent the Johto Region - Marie Srana. Fred had fallen in love with Marie when they first battled each other in the first round of the Finals. After defeating her, and then losing in the next round, he approached Marie for a date. They eventually got married and had one child, a son they named Joseph Parry. They lived a happy life in Lilac Town, watching their son grow to become a great trainer and scientist, and then marrying and having two sons - Nicholas and Christopher Parry. Then before Fred Parry died, he had released all his pokémon into the wild except for his long-time friend and partner - umbreon, which stayed with Marie and vaporeon. As she got older, Marie eventually released her pokémon, except vaporeon, when she could no longer care for them like she used to.

Christopher felt like he was being weighed down while he was carrying his mother's luggage bag, his bag, and his brother's bag, all the way to the patio. He watched as vaporeon and umbreon stepped back when Katherine tried to approach them. He could see that they were uneasy from being approached by a complete stranger, and said to them, "It's okay. She's a friend." The two pokémon understood and allowed Katherine to run her hand across their backs, feeling the sleek skin of vaporeon and the short, dark fur of umbreon.

As Christopher stepped onto the patio and set down the bags, the front door opened, revealing an old woman dressed in pants and a polka dot shirt. She also had on gardening gloves and a sun-hat atop her head. She smiled widely and said, "Christopher, you are finally here." She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "It has been too long. You have grown to be a handsome young man. You look just like your father when he was your age. And where is your brother, Nicholas?" she asked. Then she noticed Katherine, who was still running her hand across the back of vaporeon, feeling its bumpy spine. "And who is this pretty, young girl? Is she your girlfriend?" she asked aloud.

Christopher slightly flushed red when he heard this. "No, Grandma, she is not. This is Katherine Meleski. We met her in West Amarill Port. I told her about the eggs and decided to invite her because she was really interested in them. I hope it's all right with you if she watches the eggs hatch. Oh, and Nicholas was called back by Professor Redwood to deliver something. He's supposed to come here by cab later on."

"Of course it is okay with me," she said after laughing from her grandson's reaction. "If you want to see them, they are in the backyard with Whitney."

"Oh, thank you," Katherine said with a smile.

"Whitney's here?" Christopher said, remembering that his friend had moved away from Clover Town several years ago. He could not remember where she had moved to since her family kept moving a few more times after that. "I didn't know she lived here."

"Oh, she doesn't. She is here to visit her mother and father on the other end of town. She found out about the eggs and volunteered to help me with them, especially after they hatch into eevee," she said. "Okay, you two can go out back to see them. I'll just go greet your mother, Christopher." She walked off the patio while waving to Christopher's mother, who was taking a few things out of the car.

Christopher walked to the side of the house and continued on towards the backyard. It had been years since Christopher had seen Whitney Green. Whitney was the daughter of two pokémon breeders, who were good friends with Christopher's family despite the fact that they had not seen each other in so long. She eventually grew up training to become a breeder herself. Whitney was now 19 years old and still was learning about pokémon and becoming a pokémon breeder.

Christopher turned the corner and saw Whitney reading one of her college textbooks. Whitney still had the same short, blonde hair that she had always kept. She was always calm and optimistic and rarely ever got angry. It was her personality that made it comforting to be around her. Pokémon, even the wild ones, felt safe with her. It was also her peaceable nature that misled other trainers into thinking she was an easy trainer to beat when she was, as a matter of fact, a great trainer. Christopher remembered watching his brother battle Whitney for the first time, which led to a shocking defeat for Nicholas.

As vaporeon and umbreon moved on ahead to Whitney, she turned around to look at the two approaching her. Her face lit up with joy at the sight of the boy. "Christopher Parry, is that you?" she said, dropping her textbook and running over to Christopher, giving him a hug. "It's been so long, hasn't it? The last time I saw you was when you were just a little boy. So, what's new in you life? Got any pokémon of your own? Where's you brother, Nick?" She looked around for Christopher's brother, but, instead, noticed the girl standing a few feet away. "Oh, I'm sorry. Hi, my name is Whitney Green. What's your name?"

"My name is Katherine Meleski," she said after walking up to Christopher's side. "Nice to meet you.

"Nice to meet you too," Whitney said. "Did you come here with Chris?"

"Yes. We met back in West Amarill Port," Katherine replied. "He and his mother brought me along so I could see the pokémon eggs hatch into eevee. Do you, by and chance, know when they will hatch?"

"Well, I have no idea how they knew, but when my parents came over yesterday to look at them, they were sure that the eggs would hatch pretty soon," Whitney said. "But they also said that there was a possibility that the eggs could hatch at different times, even though they were all born at the same time."

"Oh, okay. Well, may I see them though?" Katherine seemed to beg.

"Sure, I was watching them before you got here," Whitney said.

As the two followed, Whitney led them to a big bundle of sheets all wrapped up together. Whitney slowly lifted the pink sheet on the top of the bundle, revealing six large pokémon eggs. Five of them had the same design on each of the shells: big blue and black dots. The sixth egg had a similar, but differently colored, design: small red, blue, yellow, black, and purple dots covered the shell. This egg was also smaller that the others.

"Wow, they're pretty," Katherine said, trying hard not to quickly reach out and hold them. "I can't wait to see them when they hatch. Your grandmother is so lucky, Christopher."

"Hey, Whitney, why is that one look different that the others?" Christopher asked, wondering about the smallest egg.

"I'm not sure at all," Whitney said. "Not even my parents know. They say that it probably has no significance. What they fear the most, though, is that is may be an eevee with a defect." Whitney said worriedly. "I hope not, of course. And you know what, this egg was actually the last one born. Maybe it being different was a coincidence," she speculated, but her face showed that she was unsure. To break the uneasiness, Whitney said, "Anyway, what have you been up to all this time, Chris?"

Christopher told her that he would be a junior in high school next term. He concluded by saying that his life was too uneventful to talk about, and instead asked Whitney the same thing she had asked him. Whitney told them that she was on her vacation from college, and that she would return in the fall. She would be returning to her studies at Joy University of Sohto, a school known for excellent teachings on pokémon health and breeding, and, apparently, was one of many similar schools founded by a Nurse Joy.

The sun was now setting behind the mountains. Vaporeon and umbreon nestled around their eggs. They licked each other's face and rested their heads together and began to fall asleep. At that time, Christopher's grandmother beckoned everyone to the house for dinner. As the three walked to the backdoor leading into the kitchen, Christopher asked if it was alright leaving the pokémon and the eggs outside, and Whitney told him that it was better that they be outside in the fresh air.

By the time everyone finished dinner, it was already dusk, with the faint light from the sun slightly peering from behind the mountains. The sun was completely hidden and the sky was getting darker. The stars were already visible and the crescent moon was shining brightly in the sky. Whitney went home. Katherine and Christopher's mother were given the only two guest rooms. Christopher decided to sleep on the couch in the living room. Vaporeon and umbreon remained outside with their eggs.

By the time the clock struck nine o'clock, everyone at the house was asleep. But outside, there was still life moving about. Nocturnal pokémon began their nightly routine of hunting and playing. The sounds of a hoothoot could be heard clearly in the quiet night. And dark shadows moved around silently in the forest that stood at the foot of the distant mountains.


	6. It Begins

Chapter 6: It Begins

"Wake up, Chris! Come on!"

Christopher groaned as he felt himself being shaken by someone with a hushed voice. Christopher was only half awake and was too tired to fully open his eyes. Through his slightly opened eyes he couldn't see anything except the faint moonlight pouring in through the windows. _It's still dark._ He moved his head little by little to look around and saw a dark shape standing over him. The dark silhouette was big, giving it a threatening look. _But I'm the only guy here. And he knows my name!_

"Come on, Chris!" said the dark figure in the same hushed tone, but now it sounded distressed. The dark figure started to shake Christopher harder. "We need to get the others."

Christopher was now fully awake and sprang up from the couch, nearly hitting the dark figure with his head. Christopher pushed him away and jumped over the side of the couch. He was about to turn on the lights when someone with smooth, soft hands behind him grabbed his arm.

"Who are you people?" Christopher nearly yelled.

Whoever was behind him squeezed his arm and told him to be quiet. "Will you settle down. It's only me Katherine," said the person behind him, letting go of Christopher's arm.

Christopher was both relieved and shocked. "What's going on? And who's that guy over there?" Christopher glared at the dark figure before him, who was still covered in darkness. He was ready to attack if he came any closer.

"Don't you recognize your own brother Nicholas?" the dark figure said while moving towards a nearby window where the moonlight shown through.

The light revealed a tall man with a cap on, which was embedded with the insignia of the Pokémon World Championship. Christopher looked over his brother to confirm it was actually his brother and noticed that there was a red scratch on the man's arm and that his clothes were slightly torn.

"Nick," Christopher said with relief. He had forgotten that his brother was still coming. "What took you so long? And what happened to you?"

"Never mind that," he replied, stepping back into the shadows and peering our through the window. "We're in trouble. Quickly, but quietly, take whatever you need. Mom is already waking up Grandma."

Christopher tried to glance out the window, but his brother stuck out his arm toward him, a quiet gesture telling him to stay away. Christopher did not know the seriousness of what was going on, so he complied and quietly put his things in his bag and put it over his shoulder. When he looked around, he noticed a red light lit on the VCR of the television. He knew that it must be the recording of the Championship and quickly ejected it, placed it in a nearby empty case, and placed it in his bag.

"What's going on, Nick? Where are we going?" Christopher was feeling nervous. His brother just shows up in the middle of the night with bleeding scratches and torn clothes. _What happened to him?_

"Listen, when I say, I need you two to get those eggs and run away with them," Nicholas said, ignoring his younger brother's questions. "You remember where the Rest House is, right, Chris?"

"Yeah, near the department store."

Nicholas was referring to the Lilac Rest House near the only department store in town. The department store supplied everything the inhabitants needed to live in the small town, so it was not necessary for any more. There was actually no Pokémon Center anywhere in town. The Rest House was similar to a Pokemon Center except it was more like a temporary shelter for passersby. There was a small pokémon clinic, which was run by the Green family, in the Rest House, but it was suggested to go to the Pokémon Center in the nearest city, Florville, because they had better doctors and equipment. There was a bus that passed through Lilac Town three times a day that would take anyone to Florville City. And because Lilac Town was small and peaceful, there was no police station. The nearest police station was also in Florville.

"Good. When I first got here I tried to call the Florville police, but the phone line has been cut and my PokéGear's signal is being blocked." Nicholas was feeling uneasy. _Why now? Why here?_

From the dark hall on the other side of the room, they could hear someone coming. "Nicholas? Christopher?" It was their mother. Spotting them hiding in the shadows with Katherine, she said, "I was looking out of your grandmother's window and I saw someone leaving the side of the house. I had heard something, so I looked. I think they just turned off the electricity. I even tried a lamp, but it did not turn on."

"Okay, thanks Mom." Nicholas had to think fast. "We're alone in this. I think there is only one way to get out of here."

Katherine sensed what he was considering. "I'm a trainer. My pokémon and I will gladly help out." Even though she felt this was not the time, she introduced herself anyway. "My name's Katherine Meleski, by the way."

"Thank you. I'm sure we can hold them off. But I must warn you that these guys have pretty strong pokémon."

"I can take care of myself," Katherine assured him.

Once again, Nicholas looked outside the window. "I wonder what they're doing? I can see some of them moving around in the darkness, but they are not attacking."

"Are vaporeon and umbreon all right? What about their eggs?" It was their grandmother. She had just come out of the hall carrying a bag.

"Yes, Grandma. Both of them seem to be ready to fight, too," Nicholas said. "Okay here's what we need to do. We need to get vaporeon and umbreon and their eggs and get them out of danger. A while ago, I saw someone messing with the car, so we're going to have to run."

"I will not be able to get far if I run," the grandmother said wearily. "I am not as young as I used to be. I'll get too exhausted."

Nicholas hesitated on what they should do. _We need to get out of here quickly._ "Mom and Grandma, stay near me. My pokémon and I will protect you. Chris and Katherine, I need you two to run to the Rest House and try to call for help. See if you can get a hold of the police in Florville."

Everyone nodded and moved closer to the sliding glass door in the kitchen. Nicholas held one of his poké balls in his hand while Katherine was holding one in each. Both of them stood at the front of the group, in front of the door. Christopher was behind Katherine and his mother and grandmother were at the back.

As Nicholas slowly slid the door open, he could see vaporeon and umbreon a few feet in front of him. They were looking all around them, growling into the night. Umbreon's yellow stripes were glowing brightly with anticipation. Both of them glanced back at the group, and then back into the cold, dark surroundings. Nicholas looked around and couldn't see anyone. There was no tall grass or trees to hide behind. He slowly walked over to where the eggs lay with their parents. Everyone else followed.

"Where did they go?" Katherine said. She tried to look around the corner of the house from where she stood, but it was too dark, even with the light from the moon.

"Let's not stay here to find out," Nicholas said. His mother handed him a large bag big enough to hold all the eggs. The inside of the bag was soft and cushioned. He slowly placed the eggs into the bag one by one while, at the same time, keeping an eye out for any movement. _What's going on? Why haven't they attacked?_ He decided that they were hiding out in front of the house. "I think we're going to have to move around the outside of the town," he whispered back to everyone. As he placed the last egg into the bag he noticed a shadow creeping over to them, covering the moonlit ground with darkness.

"There's something in the sky," Christopher whispered, looking up into the star-filled sky.

The oval-like silhouette of a massive object loomed high above the ground. It slowly and silently moved directly in front of the moon. Only a small whir could be faintly heard coming from the object. The dark shadow it cast over the group below nearly covered the entire area. As it completely blocked out the moon, a glint reflected off the metal covering. It was now nearly pitch black in the covered area. The only hints of light came from the lampposts that weakly illuminated small area of the town.

Nicholas instantly knew what this massive object was and where it had come from. "A zeppelin..." The small breeze carried his words away. What remained was the realization that they were in much greater danger than he had expected.


	7. Unseen Enemy

Chapter 7: Unseen Enemy

Nicholas frantically scanned the entire area. _They're here somewhere._ The moon was completely blocked, making it nearly impossible to see. He could barely even see the group behind him. And since Nicholas, his family, and Katherine were behind the house, the town's lampposts were too far to shed any light where they stood. The only light came from the bright yellow stripes on his grandmother's umbreon's body. _I have to get everyone out of here safely._

The zeppelin remained where it was, covering the moon from sight. The nearly inaudible _whir_ from the engines was the only sound that could be heard. The massive airship watched over the area below. Its hunt has led it to this place, where it would find what was lost years ago.

Inside the zeppelin stood a woman dressed in a burgundy shirt and black pants. She had long, black hair and entirely black eyes. Beside her stood a man wearing a black, long coat. He had short, brown hair and dark, brown eyes. Both of them stood looking out a window, waiting.

Nicholas handed his mother the bag with the eggs and pulled out a different poké ball from his belt. He held it out in his hand. "Let's go, lanturn."

"Lanturn!" it called out as it appeared from the white light that shot out from the inside of the poké ball. It floundered on the ground for a second, trying to stay balanced. The large and small orbs of its antenna were only slightly glowing. But it did not emit enough light for the entire area. It happily looked up at its trainer, awaiting his word.

Nicholas' chinchou was one of the first pokémon on the team to evolve. It was actually during one of his many lost battles against his old friend, Whitney Green, that it had evolved. Nicholas and lanturn nearly beat her after the evolution, but Whitney, being a breeder, and with her parents' help, had pokémon that were well better taken care of, and had been raised well. Nicholas wondered where his childhood friend was now.

Nicholas put on sunglasses and looked back at the group. His sunglasses were specially made to block out extremely bright light. If the sun were out, those glasses would make it look like the pitch black of night. "You'll need to shield your eyes for a while." He waited till everyone either closed their eyes or put their hands over them. He saw Katherine put on her own sunglasses. "Those won't work as well as mine," he informed her. Katherine then put her hands over the lens. Nicholas nodded and turned back to Lanturn. "Okay, lanturn, light up this area as bright as you can."

"Lanturn!" it called out as its orbs started to slightly flicker yellow. Then they got brighter. "Lan –" Lanturn was in full concentration now and the light it emitted dimmed to a faint glow. _"– turn!"_ it exclaimed. The orbs exploded with white light, illuminating the entire area as well as part of the town behind them.

Nicholas was even caught by surprise. He had not had lanturn do this in a while, but he knew that training him would help its light get stronger. He had to squint behind his sunglasses and hold his arm in front of his eyes to block out the light. He quickly looked around. He gasped from surprise. Although it was still hard to see, he counted five figures all dressed in black, all were wearing masks. Nicholas could see that they were temporarily blinded, covering their eyes and facing the other direction. But what surprised him was what surrounded them.

The two trainers on the airship were caught by surprise, but didn't flinch. If anything, they were impressed by the tactic. Even from so high above, the intense light reached the airship and was able to slightly light up the cabin. The pilot had left the controls earlier and looked out to watch as well. When there was the flash of light he had stumbled back in surprise and almost fell back onto the controls.

Nicholas could see them clearly now. _So many!_ Surrounding the group were many dark, transparent pokémon. _Ghosts! I should have known._ In front of the group alone were eleven various ghost pokémon. But he knew that they were surrounded by many more. Something else caught his eye. There were shadows on the ground. He knew they weren't the ghosts' because the light would have to be coming from above. Now he could see the zigzag pattern floating in mid-air. _Kecleon?! They have kecleon?_

The ghosts were caught totally by surprise, and they hated the light. Simultaneously, the ghosts disappeared from view. The kecleon had stumbled back, but were now getting back up. All they could see was the bright source of the light and dark spots that came from the quick and unexpected change from pitch black to intense brightness.

Everyone was now slightly used to the light, but still struggled to see. Lanturn was still holding out its light, but it seemed to be tiring. As they looked around, they were shocked from being surrounded. They all were deeply confused at what was going on. They did not understand why this was happening to them.

"Everybody, run!" Nicholas exclaimed as he picked up his lanturn. "Lanturn, do you think you can hold out a bit longer. Thank you for doing what I planned. You can lessen your light's intensity, but just let out enough for us to see far enough." As lanturn weakened its light Nicholas got his family and Katherine to move quickly towards the town. But they did not get far.

From the camouflaged pokémon with the zigzag pattern came their long, red tongue. They wrapped around legs and arms, immobilizing the entire group. Then the ghost pokémon reappeared and floated toward the tied up captives. They had been ordered to put them all to sleep and take what their owner has been looking for. But as they approached, the blue and yellow pokémon brightened its light, causing the ghosts to back off a little. The kecleon holding the lanturn lifted it in its tongue and violently ran lanturn into the ground several times. After each strike, lanturn's light weakened.

"Lanturn," Nicholas called out to his hurt pokémon. But he could not move. Everyone was tied up by the kecleon. He saw the ghost pokémon were closing in again. The trainers were also moving their way. "Lanturn, can you manage an electrical attack?"

"Lanturn," the pokémon said weakly.

Its large orb started to flicker and spark. But the kecleon holding lanturn saw this and lifted lanturn. This time it held it in the air higher than last time. As kecleon was about to pummel lanturn into the ground, lanturn attacked with a burst of electricity from its body. The kecleon could not let go and could only watch in fear as the electricity trailed down its tongue. Its whole body got electrocuted on the outside as well as its inside. It was no longer camouflaged and its green body collapsed to the ground with smoke rising from its mouth.

Lanturn threw electricity at the other kecleon and ghosts, causing them to back off and release the group. At their trainers' command, all the ghosts and kecleon attacked lanturn all together. Lanturn could not move well on land and could only use its bolts of electricity to deflect the onslaught of ghost and psybeam attacks. But there were too many and lanturn became weak and could only take the attacks. Lanturn lay motionless on the ground, terribly scarred. As lanturn lay there, vaporeon and umbreon tried their best to keep the enemy away. Lanturn's light then went out and they were once again enveloped in darkness.

Nicholas could hear the chuckles of the trainers. Once again he started to feel the kecleon's tongues wrap around him. He heard a scream and felt someone struggling beside him. Before his arms were tied up, he felt for his belt and tried to get a hold of a poké ball. But he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and barely made out a haunter's transparent arm in his chest. His whole body tensed and all he could feel was pain and cold. He could not breathe. He was not able to yell out. Nicholas felt like his very life was being squeezed from him. This pokémon was killing him. _Help!_

A bright, purple light erupted from Nicholas, sending the haunter soaring away, and the tongues of the kecleon released him. As the light waned, only a small, round object was still glowing. The glowing poké ball lifted itself from Nicholas' belt and levitated around the group. As it passed over Christopher, there was another burst of purple light and the slimy restraints released him. The floating poké ball did the same with everyone else. Then it opened.

"Alakazam!" Standing over its owner's family and friend was the strongest pokémon Nicholas had. The hunched-over pokémon stared out into the darkness. Its body was calm; its arms hanging loosely at its side with one large spoon held in each hand. As soon as it closed its eyes, it could see everything all at once. It felt exactly where every living being was. It could clearly sense where each camouflaged kecleon stood; where each ghost hovered, circled around, or were still invisible; and where each of the five enemy trainers stood. When it focused toward to the airship above, it suddenly felt nervous. Something powerful was blocking its mind. For now it would ignore the presence above.

Nicholas slowly got up, his hand over his chest. He still shook from the cold feeling of near death. He looked around to see if everyone else was all right. "We're alright now. Alakazam will protect us." Nicholas watched as his psychic pokémon pulsed with energy, sending several approaching ghost pokémon flying back. He turned around to see Katherine jump up. She was angry.

"I've had enough of these guys!" She still had the two poké balls clutched in her hand. She threw both of them, releasing her duskull and bayleef. "Duskull, use your foresight. Bayleef, sweep the ground with your vines."

Duskull's eyes glowed red and released a ray of light. The enemy ghost pokémon that were caught in the beam became visible and recoiled in the red beam. Duskull, with umbreon joining in, scanned the entire area, revealing every hidden ghost and kecleon caught in their foresight. Bayleef then brought out two vines and swung them wildly into the darkness in front of it, attacking the kecleon and now visible and touchable ghosts.

"That's it! We've been going easy on you people. Not anymore!" It was one of the masked trainers. It was the first time any one of them had spoken. "Everyone! Take them out!"

All at once, every ghost prepared a night shade or a shadow ball. First, the kecleon launched an assault of psybeam attacks. The alakazam easily shielded against them. As the psychic attacks hit the barrier, the explosion of the blasts hitting the shield caused smoke to rise all around it.

From inside the barrier, Nicholas waited for the smoke to clear. Then he felt something from his pokémon. "Everyone, get down!" He pushed a reluctant Katherine down while everyone followed. Nicholas watched as alakazam hold up its arms and cross its spoons in front of it.

Alakazam concentrated more strength to its shield in front of it. Through the dying smoke came many ghost attacks. Each attack was concentrated on its front, impaling the shield fiercely. Some went through and flew over the group. Alakazam then sensed more enemy pokémon coming from behind. It let out more power and increased the durability of the shield all around. It needed to take the offensive. It held its eyes closed tightly now and concentrated. Twenty-three ghosts and sixteen kecleon, one of which was still incapacitated from electricity. Alakazam then hesitated. Something was interrupting its thoughts. The intruder was giving it a headache and going through its mind.

_"Give it up. You have no chance. You are weak. Your trainer is weak."_ Someone was speaking to it telepathically. These words had come out of nowhere and echoed deep in alakazam's head. The voice seemed to be of a girl's. It was soft and soothing, but at the same time, sounded sinister. _"Give us what we want or you will all _die_!"_ The voice laughed, as its last statement seemed to startle alakazam into almost letting down the protective barrier.

Nicholas saw that his pokémon was struggling to keep up the barrier. Something was bothering it. "Come on, alakazam. I know you have more power than this. Just give us a chance to escape. That's all we need." Nicholas watched as alakazam seemed to calm down from hearing his voice. Alakazam started to glow a bright purple, and the shield grew in size and strength.

_"Alakazam!"_ it exclaimed as it thrust out both its arms straight out to its sides. There was a powerful surge of psychic energy. The dome that was the shield grew and pushed away anything that it came in contact with. Alakazam then held his arms high in the air towards the airship. It crossed its spoons and focused its power into one large sphere that pulsed with psychic energy. _"Kazam!"_ is said and shot the sphere at the zeppelin. As the orb of psychic energy continued its course, it increased in speed. As it neared the target, alakazam sensed a presence aboard the airship similar to the one that invaded its mind. There was a short flash of light, and alakazam watched in disbelief as its attack slowly shrank into nothing before it reached its destination. Alakazam was about to try again, except it would be much bigger this time, but his trainer stopped him.

"We don't have time right now," Nicholas said. Their enemies on the ground were starting to recover. Nicholas quickly grabbed the bag holding the pokémon eggs from his mother and handed them to his younger brother. "Chris, you and Katherine must run from here and try to find a place to hide. Maybe get some help. Go! I'll take care of Mom and Grandma." Nicholas pushed Nicholas and Katherine toward the town. _"Go!"_

Christopher hesitated. His brother was greatly outnumbered. He wanted to help, but he could not. He felt Katherine pulling at his shirt. Christopher turned and started jogging. He took one last look to see his brother and his pokémon prepare to fight again. He assured himself that they would be all right and started running. Katherine and her pokémon followed.

The masked trainers ordered their pokémon to follow the two escaping boy and girl. As the ghost pokémon and kecleon followed orders a pokémon appeared out of nowhere in front of them. Alakazam had just teleported. Then umbreon and vaporeon joined alakazam at its side.

"We're not done here," Nicholas said, glaring coldly at his enemies.

Above, the airship began to move.


	8. Escape

Chapter 8: Escape

They had just run out of the gated perimeter of the house. Christopher did not back. It was difficult for him to run while holding two bags. Although he had the shoulder strap of the bag on, he clutched the bag of pokémon eggs to his chest. Katherine ran along beside him, looking around for anyone following. A few feet in front of them were Katherine's bayleef and duskull, making sure that their trainer and her friend remained away from harm.

Since the battle was making so much noise, the whole town seemed to be waking up. Lights were being turned on inside every house. Some people came out of their houses to see what was going on. Looking over at Marie Parry's house, they could see and hear the ongoing battle. Then looking between the two lines of houses they could see two teenagers running with two pokémon.

"We need to get to the Rest House," Christopher said, panting. "We can call Florville for help from there." He was trying to ignore the citizens of the town as they were trying to ask them what was going on. He yelled to them as he continued running. "Please return to your homes. It's too dangerous out here."

"Chris!" Katherine said, grabbing his shoulder to halt him.

"What is it?" he asked. Although he welcomed the rest, he knew that they needed to get out of there. "We need to run for help."

"Why? We can just ask one of these nice people to use their phone."

Christopher looked around and realized that the whole town was probably now awake. There was no point in going any further. "Oh yeah," he said with a little embarrassment. "Let's ask them then."

"Hold it right there, you two!" someone yelled out from behind them as they were about to ask any one of the town citizens. "We're tired of this. Now give us what we want or else."

Christopher turned around to see two of the masked men who had attacked them back at his grandmother's home. "What do you want?" he said. "These eggs? Why? What do you need them for? And who are you?"

"That's none of your business, kid," the same man said. He seemed to be the leader of the small group that had attacked. "Just give us that bag and maybe we can avoid some unnecessary violence."

The man had an untrusting tone. "No! If you want this bag, then you'll have to take them from me."

"Well, if you insist." Both of them each threw a poké ball. "Let's get this over with, sneasel!" His partner also brought out his own sneasel.

Two short dark-colored pokémon appeared. They had thin maroon tails and a long ear of the same color. They stared wickedly at the teenagers. They could smell the fresh lives that were concealed in the pokémon eggs. They wanted to feed on them. But their trainers needed the eggs, so the sneasel knew that they had to refrain. The one sneasel that belonged to the leader raised it right paw and smiled at the two that stood before it. Extending quickly from its paw was its long and sharp claw. Its other claw protruded from its left paw, and the other sneasel did the same.

Christopher looked at the two sets of claws nervously. They glinted ominously in the little light that shone. Then he gasped as he looked wide-eyed up to the sky. The moon was visible again. The moon was shedding some light on the side of a massive object in the sky. The airship now loomed high above the town just behind the two mysterious trainers with their sneasel. It was following them.

"What's going on here?" It was an elderly man who had been standing on his lawn and watching the whole thing. "How dare you young people disturb the peace of this town. You kids have no respect these days."

"Shut up, old geezer! We'll get what we want, and then _maybe_ we'll leave without causing too much damage." The lead trainer turned his attention back to the teenagers. "Come on, kid, hand it over. You have no chance against our sneasel." The boy in front of him just held the bag tighter and stepped back. "Okay, kid, you asked for this. Both sneasel, take them out and get the bag!" Both sneasel reacted quickly and sprinted side by side at the boy. They held their claws back as they ran, ready to strike.

"Bayleef, vine whip!" Katherine yelled.

The bayleef cried out as its two vines shot out and went straight for the quickly approaching sneasel. Just inches before the vines would hit their targets, both sneasel jumped to the side in opposite directions and continued towards the boy with the bag.

Katherine did not hesitate. "Quickly, bayleef, attack the one on the right. Duskull, use your shadow ball on the one on the left."

Bayleef quickly swung its vines to its right at the sneasel. But the sneasel was too fast and easily dodged both whips. Bayleef did not quit, and just kept whipping its vines around to keep the sneasel from getting closer. Meanwhile, duskull was having a hard time with the sneasel that belonged to the enemy leader. Duskull had already attacked with several shadow balls, but the sneasel just used its claws to cut right through the attacks with ease.

"Sneasel, take out that bayleef!" commanded the leader's partner. His sneasel moved quickly to avoid the vines. It was much faster than the bayleef. Then it picked up speed and appeared a few feet to bayleef's side. It pounced.

"Watch out, bayleef! Try swinging your vines around in a circle and use them as a shield," Katherine said, and then looked over at her duskull's battle. Her duskull still was unable to put a scratch on this sneasel. Now, the sneasel's claws were glowing an evil black, and it was furiously slashing at the duskull. "Duskull! Use your future sight!" For a moment, duskull's red eye glowed white and returned to normal before it was finally struck down by the sneasel. The sneasel's black glowing claw had left a weird gash in duskull. Duskull fell to the ground and from its cut, a thin black vapor of its ghostly energy poured out. "No! Duskull, return," Katherine shrieked as she held out her pokémon's poké ball. Looking over to her bayleef, she saw that there was a small red scratch on its back. "Bayleef!"

Christopher stood behind Katherine, shaking. He felt helpless. All he could do was watch as Katherine tried to protect him with her pokémon. It just got worse after seeing her duskull taken down and her bayleef being beaten. He was too engrossed with watching Katherine's bayleef desperately fight the agile sneasel that he didn't notice the other one coming at him.

"Chris, watch out! To your left!" Katherine cried out. While keeping one vine fighting one sneasel, her bayleef shot its other vine towards the other sneasel that stealthily moved towards Christopher.

It was to no avail. The enemy leader's sneasel dodged the vine and lunged at the boy with its arm held back, preparing for its attack. The sneasel would aim for the boy's arm and force him to let go of the bag. But he stepped back to avoid the attack. Sneasel swung its claw and only was able to leave a gash that broke through the bag's material.

"Watch it! We need those eggs," the leader roared furiously. "Now attack and get it right!" His sneasel sprung forward and this time aimed for the legs.

Christopher tried to evade again, but tripped over his own foot from panicking and fell to the ground. The sneasel now had a clear shot and took it eagerly. Christopher tried to move back while still on the ground, but he was too slow. He could only watch in fear as the sneasel kicked off the ground into the air and fell down towards the boy with its razor-sharp claws ready to strike. This time it would not miss. Suddenly, a bright white sphere came out of nowhere and struck the sneasel in mid-air and impaled it into the ground before exploding. The other sneasel stopped fighting bayleef and looked over to where its partner lay.

"What happened!?" the leader yelled angrily. He kept ordering his sneasel to get back up, but it did not.

"Ha! You forgot about my duskull's last attack," Katherine remarked. "That was its future sight."

He cursed in anger as he recalled sneasel into its poké ball. "Gengar!" he called into the night. Nothing happened. He looked back towards the house where he left the rest of his men to fight. "Gengar, get here now!" He had left his ghost pokémon to fight the trainer with the alakazam. Normally, his gengar would appear to him whenever he called. Now, there was no response. And there were no more signs of fighting.

"What's wrong?" Katherine asked mockingly. "Your pokémon not answering your plea for help? Maybe it was defeated."

The leader was about to yell at her when a pokémon appeared out of nowhere and floated toward him. "Ah, gengar, now that you are here, you can take care of these pests." Looking over his pokémon, he saw that his gengar seemed to be struggling to stay afloat. It then collapsed to the ground and stopped moving. "Get up! Get up and fight!"

Behind where the gengar lay, a group of people appeared in a broken stream of light. Standing at the head of the small group was an alakazam with its trainer standing beside it. Christopher was quickly on his feet and was overjoyed with the sight before him. His mother and grandmother were all right as well as his brother. Katherine sighed with relief. Both of the masked trainers stared wide-eyed.

The leader tried to shake off the fear and look poised. But he was still in disbelief. "You're still standing? You couldn't possibly have defeated all my men and pokémon." He sounded unsure of himself.

"My alakazam is pretty powerful. He didn't have to show his true power to defeat them," Nicholas said with confidence. "And with my grandmother's umbreon and vaporeon, we were more than a match for them. All of them ran away when they were defeated. Then we followed this gengar here."

The leader was stunned into silence. He could not believe that these people took on a horde of pokémon and defeated them. "I-impossible..." His head snapped towards the man beside him, who had just yelled. The man had an expression of horror and was shaking uncontrollably. He was looking up into the sky towards the airship, which had stopped above them during the battle. The leader looked up towards the airship and back at the terrified man. "What is it, you fool? You shouldn't show your fear in front of your enemy." All the man did was shake his head and unexpectedly turn away and run. He darted past Christopher and Katherine and continued running with his sneasel not far behind. "Come back here!" his leader yelled.

_"Are you sure you do not want to join that coward, and the rest of them? They were all easy to scare,"_ said a woman's voice deep inside his head. He felt a shiver move down his spine and became terrified of the familiar voice. _"I suggest that you do if you do not wish to suffer. Your men were smart to run."_ A violet light that kept his body from moving now surrounded him. _"Consider yourself and your men,"_ the voice said as the man was raised from the ground, _"fired."_

He cried out in pain as his head felt like it was being crushed. Then he was flung back and fell hard onto the ground. The violet light disappeared from around him. He feebly got back up. He flashed a fierce look towards the boy with the pokémon eggs and the trainer with the alakazam. "I'll be back. Mark my words. I'll be back." He recalled his gengar and struggled to run to leave the town.

"What was that all about?" Nicholas asked, confused. He erased all the trouble that happened that night from his mind and looked over at his brother with content. "Glad to see that both of you are all right -"

He was interrupted as a pokémon teleported in-between him and his brother. Both vaporeon and umbreon growled at the newcomer and alakazam readied itself for battle despite its faint trace of tiredness from its last battle. Katherine's bayleef also prepared for battle, but it was exhausted and weak from the damages it took.

Silently standing where it had teleported was an elegant pokémon. It had the appearance of a pokémon wearing a long, slit white dress that hid its thin white legs. The pokémon's thin light green arms hung at its side. Protruding through its back and chest was a red plate. Its large head was down and it had its eyes closed. It was a gardevoir. Everyone was silent and watched it nervously. They did not know whether it was friend or foe, or just a wild pokémon that ended up in the town. Several people gasped when the mysterious pokémon turned its head towards the group with the alakazam. Its eyes burst open, revealing its red eyes that shot a threatening look towards alakazam. The attack was quick and unexpected. A powerful wind struck alakazam and everyone behind it, sending them flying back.

"No!" Christopher cried out. He was about to run to his family when the mysterious pokémon turned in his direction, making him stop. The bag in his arms glowed purple. Christopher held on to the bag tightly as it seemed to be drawn to the psychic pokémon's outstretched arm. "Stop it!" As much as he tried to anchor himself onto the ground with his feet, the pull was too strong. He was only a few feet from the gardevoir's hand when something wrapped around his waist and slowly pulled him back in the opposite direction. It was Katherine's bayleef. But the psychic pull was much stronger, and bayleef was starting to be pulled forward with Christopher.

"Let my brother go." Nicholas was back on his feet. His alakazam joined him at his side. Behind them, Nicholas' mother was helping up her mother-in-law. Umbreon and vaporeon were at their owner's feet, making sure she was all right. "Alakazam, help him."

Alakazam sent a pulse of psychic energy at the enemy psychic pokémon. The attack struck a barrier. Gardevoir still remained facing Christopher, pulling him towards it. Katherine was trying to help her bayleef by pulling on the vines wrapped around Christopher. Alakazam tried several more psychic attacks, each of them having no effect. But it seemed to slow down gardevoir's progress.

"Alakazam, try another one of those psychic balls," Nicholas suggested. "This time, more power."

Alakazam held out its spoon-wielding hands. Its whole body sparked with psychic energy, with most of it concentrated on the space a few inches in front of the spoons. A violet sphere began to form, and then it dramatically grew in size. This time, gardevoir's attention was caught. It released its psychic hold on the bag of pokémon eggs, sending the holder falling backwards by the sudden end of the forward pull. Gardevoir slowly turned around as the large sphere of psychic power speedily hurtled at its target. Gardevoir quickly raised one arm, and its red plate flashed bright red. The dark orb stopped abruptly just a few inches from gardevoir's arm.

"Come on, alakazam, push!" Nicholas cheered on.

Alakazam concentrated on pushing its attack. Gardevoir did not seem to be struggling at all. It brought up its other arm, and then pulled both arms back. Its plate flashed red again. It was going to send it back. No matter how much energy alakazam used, the psychic sphere did not shift. Even though it had not used much of its power in its last battle, it still had expended some and did take minor damages. Gardevoir was about to send alakazam's own attack back when it sensed something approaching. It quickly put one arm back and put up a barrier just in time to shield itself from several blue blasts of water. Alakazam took advantage of this distraction, and with a burst of its power, the dark orb broke free from gardevoir's hold and hit it squarely on the chest before exploding.

Christopher and Katherine turned around. Those water attacks had come from behind them. They saw a beautiful pokémon with a long, sleek body a few yards away. It had two long red antennas that went out and around its long head from above its dark, red eyes. Its body had light-colored skin with the latter half having a scaly patter of blue and red ending with a fan-like tail of the same colors. Christopher instantly recognized this familiar pokémon and the trainer that stood beside it.

"Milotic, another water pulse," Whitney Green said.

Her Milotic fired another powerful blast of water at the smoke that engulfed the gardevoir. Before it hit, gardevoir dispersed the smoke, revealing that it had taken damage. It had bruises all over its body. It did not move as it put up a shield to prevent the water attack from hitting. It was evident that gardevoir was annoyed by all the intrusions. Its red plate was pulsing brightly.

"Whitney," Nicholas said quizzically. "What is she doing here?"

"I guess we never told you that Whitney's parents had finally chose to live here in Lilac Town," his mother said from behind him. "She is visiting them."

"Okay, I have a plan then." Nicholas looked back at umbreon and vaporeon. "I'll need your help, you two. Vaporeon, you go over there," he instructed while pointing at a location, "and use your water attacks. Umbreon, I need you to move to the opposite side and tackle gardevoir."

Umbreon and vaporeon moved to their positions at the same time. Gardevoir sensed the movement and tried to attack only to be hit by a psychic attack from alakazam. But it was weak and gardevoir shrugged it off.

"Vaporeon, use your water gun," Nicholas said. Vaporeon shot out continuous blasts of water at gardevoir, which was hit by a few of them before blocking them with a psychic barrier. "Now umbreon, quick attack!"

Gardevoir kept the barrier up and quickly turned to face the umbreon that was speeding towards it. Gardevoir was about to stop it, but was distracted again by the milotic and alakazam's attacks. Gardevoir had to strengthen its shield to deflect them. It tried to stop umbreon as the pokémon pounced, but umbreon went unaffected by the psychic attack and broke through the shield, tackling gardevoir. Gardevoir fell to the ground with umbreon pinning it down.

"Whitney, take Chris and Katherine to safety," Nicholas yelled over to Whitney. As much as he wanted to know how she's been doing, this was not the time. "Take them to Florville for now. I'll catch up to you guys later."

Whitney did not want to leave her friend and his family behind, but she believed Nicholas knew what he was doing. She recalled her milotic into its poké ball. "Come on, you heard your brother. Let's go!"

"You need rest, bayleef. Return," Katherine said, holding out bayleef's poké ball. She turned towards Whitney and pulled on Christopher's shirt. "Come on. Your family will be fine with your brother."

Christopher nodded and ran away with Katherine and Whitney.

Gardevoir was now angry. A burst of its psychic energy sent umbreon flying. Gardevoir raised itself into the air. The plate on its chest was now glowing a bright red that surrounded its body. Red sparks began to radiate from gardevoir.

Nicholas struggled to breathe as he felt the atmosphere begin to thin. He looked around and saw that everyone who was still outside their houses were gasping for breath as well. Alakazam had its eyes closed in deep concentration. It did not need to breathe as much while it was meditating. This time, alakazam drew on all the power it had. It was trying to reverse the atmospheric field gardevoir had created. Nicholas was able to breathe again, but only in short, weak breaths.

"Venusaur, help us out here," he whispered, weakly, while holding out a poké ball. Before venusaur was fully out of the ball, Nicholas said, "Vine whip. Quickly."

As soon as venusaur appeared it already felt the thin air and quickly shot out many vines at the gardevoir that hung in the air, glowing an evil red. Venusaur was soon struggling to breathe, but did not let up. It kept whipping at the barrier around gardevoir and started to combine it with razor leaf. But it still had no effect. Venusaur's attacks were weakening. Nicholas and his pokémon were suddenly surprised when other pokémon had started to appear around them. The town citizens with their own pokémon were trying to help. Some of the newcomers were striking gardevoir's barrier with their own attacks. There were also other psychic pokémon trying to help alakazam. Gardevoir's shield was becoming weaker as it struggled to maintain it. Gardevoir tried to fight back, but there were too many and attacking them all would result in loss of much needed energy. Then the attacks stopped. Gardevoir figured that they had either passed out or knew that it was useless. But it was wrong. Several bright hyper beams shot right at gardevoir, breaking through the shield and exploding on impact with gardevoir, bringing it down from the sky. Before gardevoir hit the ground, it teleported and was nowhere to be seen. The air was returned back to normal.

Meanwhile, Whitney was driving Christopher and Katherine in her car. They had departed from Lilac Town. They had felt uneasy when they saw a bright red light in the sky above where they had left everyone. They also saw the great explosion and the disappearance of the red light. They were unsure about what had happened. Whitney wanted to turn back, but she knew that she had to trust Nicholas.


	9. Inheritance

Chapter 9: Inheritance

Clouds blanketed the dawning blue sky above Florville City as the sun rose above the eastern horizon. The city was only half awake with its inhabitants moving about in their houses to prepare for the coming day. Many pokémon trainers were already awake and eager to begin another day of training. Several people were out of their homes at daybreak to get to work on time or to do their morning jog. In just an hour, Florville was awake and bustling.

The Florville Pokémon Center was somewhat of a hangout for many pokémon trainers. The pokémon center was a long building. The entrance led into a brightly lit rectangular lobby lined with large windows. It was also built to accommodate sixteen trainers in four rooms equipped with two bunk beds each. A Nurse Joy and her three chansey operated the Florville Pokémon Center.

Inside, trainers were already ambushing Nurse Joy, asking to get a check-up on their pokémon. Trainers of all ages hurried in and out of the hospital, raring to start their day of training, and hoping to catch a new pokémon or even evolve one of theirs. On one side of the lobby, a teenage girl sat at a bench watching the teenage boy in front of her pace back and forth, lost in deep thought and panic.

_Oh yeah, my brother is going to kill me. No! Grandma will probably feed me to her pokémon. Yeah, that's it._ Christopher was pacing in front of Katherine, thinking of all the horrible things that could be done to him for what had happened. Last night, when Christopher, Katherine, and Whitney finally reached the Florville Pokémon Center and were given a room, he found out that one of the pokémon eggs were missing. They believe that it had fallen out of the hole sneasel had cut into the bag when trying to attack Christopher. They had searched the car and around the pokémon center, but could not find it. The missing egg was one of the five that were similar to the others; the ones that had blue and black dots.

Katherine tiredly watched the hypnotic pacing of Christopher's. They had been up most of the night searching for the missing egg. They even searched the city, even though they were in the car the whole time as they went through it. After searching to no avail, they concluded that it had fallen out between the times during the battle with gardevoir and when they had gotten into Whitney's car to escape. Katherine sighed heavily and pleaded, "Please calm down and sit. Your pacing is kind of attracting other people's attention, and you are making me dizzy."

"Fine," Christopher complied half-heartedly. He sat beside Katherine on the bench. The bag that contained the remaining five eggs was also laid on the bench. Christopher would not keep it out of his sight from now on. He looked over at where the hole had been, which was now patched up with masking tape they had borrowed from the pokémon center. "I'm sorry, but this is a hectic thing for me. Everyone trusted me with the eggs, and I couldn't keep one safe. For all we know, those bad guys have the egg. Who knows what they have planned? I've heard that there have been horrible experiments done with eevee because of their ability to evolve into five different pokémon."

"How do you know they have it? We didn't see anyone or anything else except that gardevoir. And you saw that gardevoir was busy fighting your brother. Maybe your family has the egg. Or perhaps one of the townspeople. We know that they can be trusted," Katherine said, trying to cheer up her friend's pessimistic mood.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I bet Nicholas has it right now," Christopher said cheerfully. "I wonder where he is though." He looked out at the city through the large windows, hoping to see brother come up to the building, or even Whitney's car.

Whitney had left at sunrise to look for the egg again now that there was light. She did not expect to find it with people walking around now. She told Christopher and Katherine that if she could not find it, she would file a report about the missing egg to the police. Hopefully, they would be able to track it down. She would not go near Lilac Town for now though. Nicholas had told her to stay in Florville until he came to them. She was worried, but figured that he was probably tired and resting after such a night.

Christopher silently sat, deep in thought, with his head down, keeping a close watch on the bag of pokémon eggs that was now on the floor between his legs. Katherine had left him to "mingle," as she called it, and see if she could get a pokémon battle out of anyone. Christopher admired her confident spirit. She never seemed miserable, or even hesitant in a pokémon battle from what he has seen. As he looked down at the eggs, he remembered something Katherine had wanted to ask his grandmother. _Eevee are cool pokémon. Maybe I should ask Grandma if I could have one. But then again, after telling her about the missing egg, I'll be dead before I get a chance._ Christopher sighed and closed his eyes just before he heard a girl's high-pitched scream.

Flying through the sliding doors of the pokémon center was a blue and red pokémon with a white underbelly. The swellow flew in a couple circles over the heads of the confused trainers before gliding down and landing in front of the boy with a bag sitting alone on a bench.

"Cut it out," Christopher fussed as the swellow clipped at his hands with its beak. Christopher then noticed that there was a piece of paper tied to one of the swellow's legs. Around the other leg was a blue PokéGear, much like the one his older brother owned. "Are these for me?" Christopher asked as he took the paper and device. Taking one look at the writing on the paper, he recognized it to be Nicholas' scrawled handwriting. This was his brother's first pokémon, swellow. Swellow gave Christopher one last friendly clip before flying out of the pokémon center, once again scaring a few trainers. Christopher had tried to stop it to ask if his family was all right, but it was too late. He found it odd that swellow did not fly in the direction of Lilac Town.

Katherine was quickly at Christopher's side. "Do you know that swellow?" All she received was a nod while he looked over the note. She became more curious when Christopher gasped with happiness. "What does it say?"

Christopher had a smile that reached from ear to ear. He almost had not heard Katherine's question until she shook his shoulder. "Oh, um...that was Nicholas' swellow. This paper has a note from him and my grandmother. It says that everyone is all right, and that it was the whole town that helped defeat that mysterious gardevoir. 'I have left Mom and Grandma at Lilac Town. They will be safe there. I am going to be at West Amarill Port,'" Christopher read. "He's asking us to go there immediately. I wonder why."

Katherine got impatient with Christopher's pace and sat next to him so she could read the note herself. "West Amarill again? That's pretty far. If we need to get there quickly, Whitney will have to drive pretty fast." She tried reading the second note from the grandmother, but she couldn't see over Christopher's hand as he used his index finger to pass under every written line. It was as if he was double checking what it said. "What did your grandmother write?"

"I can't believe it," he said with the same big smile across his face. "According to this, my grandfather had planned on breeding umbreon and vaporeon so they could give me an eevee for my first pokémon years ago. But it was delayed for a while after his death. When they finally bred they had six eggs, to my grandmother's surprise." Christopher stopped momentarily and frowned as he recalled that there was an egg missing. "She never expected so many and would not have known what to do with them." He stopped again. He could tell Katherine was deeply annoyed with his. "She wants me to hatch and train them all...as my own."

"What?!" Katherine nearly shrieked. "That's unbelievably awesome! Don't you know how lucky you are?" How about a trade?" she added jokingly. She saw that Christopher still had a frown on his face. "What's wrong? You were smiling a while ago."

"I still lost that egg. I will have to tell my grandmother eventually. Also, this letter never mentioned that they found an egg. I don't think they have it." Looking over the last few lines again, he noticed a short sentence that said "Good luck!" His mother, the person who wanted her youngest son to finish school first, wrote them.

"Yeah, I guess." Katherine had nothing else to say.

"Hey, you two." It was Whitney. She had come back. Unfortunately, empty handed. "Whatcha been up to?"

Christopher told her about Nicholas' swellow and the letter's contents. Although Whitney understood his sadness, she believed that the egg will soon be found and returned, and that Christopher should be happy that he would soon become a trainer.

"Nicholas says to go to West Amarill, huh? What's he up to?" Whitney asked no one. "Well, let's go then."

Christopher carried the bag of pokémon eggs the whole time while getting his stuff in the room. All the while, thinking about his future as a pokémon trainer. He was sixteen and already almost a trainer. He would be starting later than most people. He felt that he would be left behind. _Will I be good enough...good enough to live up to the family name?_

As he returned to the lobby, his thoughts of being a pokémon trainer were interrupted by an intense light coming from the bag of eggs. It drew the attention of the entire lobby. Everyone was quiet and stopped what they were doing to see where the source of the bright light came from. From everyone's view, it was as if he was emitting the light, as it nearly surrounded his entire body. The pokémon eggs were finally hatching.

Whitney was the only one who actually moved and quickly ran to Christopher. "Quick, get them out of the bag. They'll need some space." She pulled off the bag and carefully placed it on the cold floor near a long cushioned bench. She then quickly, but delicately, placed each egg on the bench. "Help me watch them to make sure none of them roll off."

"Could we offer some assistance?" It was Nurse Joy with a chansey. Each had brought out a stretcher with several blankets folded on top of them. Another chansey was trying to dispel the crowd that was starting to collect around the miraculous event.

"Thank you," Whitney said, picking up the eggs once again one by one and placing two on one stretcher and three on the other, then wrapping them in the blankets. As they moved swiftly, and with care, towards the hospital wing, the light of each egg was starting to dim, but the smallest egg remained as bright as ever. "Come on, guys, they're nearly hatching."

Christopher and Whitney, with Nurse Joy and chansey, stopped inside a room in the hospital wing. Other trainers pleaded with another chansey standing outside the wing to see the eggs hatch, but it would not let them.

"What took you so long?" Christopher asked Katherine as she entered the hospital wing a few minutes after he did. "I would think that you would be excited about this. I know I am."

"I just needed to use the little girls' room. Really, I am excited. I'm ecstatic! I'm just trying to contain myself from looking like a hysterical maniac," she added as a little joke.

"Oh my gosh, it's starting!" Whitney said enthusiastically. She watched as four of the eggs dimmed to a dull glow. She was curious, though, as to why the smallest egg had only slightly dimmed.

Simultaneously, the four larger eggs began to crack in random places all over their shells. Everyone silently looked on in awe as the cracks became longer and pieces started to disconnect from the rest of the shell. This was the first time Christopher had ever seen pokémon eggs hatch. He watched as Nurse Joy and Whitney slowly and meticulously removed the shards of the shells that were coming off. Looking over at the still-bright egg, his joy turned into worry. _What is with that egg?_ he wondered.

An audible gasp from Whitney signaled that the pokémon were coming out now. She quickly grabbed Christopher and told him to make sure that the eevee looked at him so they knew who would be their "mother" or caretaker. The glowing stopped and four small furry creatures with four legs replaced the eggs, the shells of which were put aside. Nurse Joy and Whitney placed all four little eevee on one stretcher and stepped aside, leaving Christopher standing right in front of them.

Christopher watched open-mouthed as he saw the miracle of new life coming into the world. He grabbed a chair to sit beside the stretcher so he could be level with the newly hatched pokémon. The eevee were trying to stand up on shaky legs and continuously mewling. Once they were able to stand up without falling, it was clear that they stood no higher than one foot. Christopher petted each eevee to feel their soft brown fur. He felt their bushy tails and scratched behind their long ears, which they really seemed to like.

Nurse Joy said that two eevee were male and the other two were female. There were also some noticeable differences between the eevee's appearances and behaviors. The female eevee, which had dark blue eyes and a thinner-than-normal tail, on the far right seemed to like the attention it was getting and walked up to Christopher to lick his face. The male eevee next to it, which had odd pale eyes, was standing and turning around and around to look in every direction. The other male eevee next to that one had darker fur and was lying down with its head resting on its forelegs. The final, female eevee did not seem to look any different, but was moving around a lot and playfully trying to bite Christopher's hand with its still-small teeth.

"Could you two please help chansey clean them and make sure they are healthy while I tend to that last egg?" Nurse Joy kindly asked Katherine and Whitney. She giggled when she saw Katherine literally jump forward for her chance to get a closer look at the eevee.

Christopher followed Nurse Joy over to the now-dim egg that had yet to hatch. "Do you know what's wrong with it, Nurse Joy?" he asked worriedly.

"I don't think that there is anything wrong with it at all," she replied in her sweet voice. "It's just a late starter, that's all. Although, rare as it is to find an egg that is different amongst its siblings, it is possible. For all we know, it may be a special pokémon."

Christopher felt a little better. He was soon to become a trainer...a trainer of one of the uncommon species of pokémon no less. He reveled at that fact. But he still thought about the problems he might eventually face. He still had no idea who or why those people from last night had attacked Lilac Town. To make things worse, he still had not told his family that one of the eggs was missing. That would certainly rebuke his mother's blessing of becoming a trainer. Christopher was startled by a sudden outburst from Whitney.

"Oh my gosh, this eevee," she said while holding the eevee with the white eyes in her arms, "is blind!"

"What?" Christopher exclaimed, rushing over to the eevee in Whitney's arms. It was looking every which way and seemed oblivious to the hands that waved in front of its eyes. "But...how?"

"I was letting it walk on the counter while brushing its fur and it just kept walking into the wall," Whitney explained. "This is my first time seeing a pokémon born like this." She was thinking about all those times she had done fieldwork for her studies and had never seen a pokémon born blind.

"Erm...this eevee just turned blue like the water," Katherine said matter-of-factly. Inside the tub of water where she was washing the female eevee with dark blue eyes was a pokémon that was actually turning blue in the areas that the water covered. But its body was still in clear view through the water. "Odd..."

"That's impossible!" Whitney said, thinking back to her studies. "It's displaying the unique properties of a vaporeon. Vaporeon's structure is similar to that of water molecules, allowing it to blend perfectly into water. But this is an eevee!"

Christopher felt like his whole status as a pokémon trainer was crashing down before it even lifted off. Several bad memories from his early childhood came flooding back. He always felt he had bad luck with pokémon. He remembered when Nicholas' bulbasaur used to whip him whenever Nicholas wasn't looking. He remembered when he was helping a younger Whitney take care of some pokémon, and then almost dropping a slippery wooper, which resulted in gallons of water in his face. One of his worst memories was when he visited a ranch and rode a ponyta that nearly burned him with its fiery mane and flung him from its back. Fortunately, his father was there and caught Christopher with his victreebell. Even that victreebell seemed to be against him at some times, but that time, it was still in its trainer's sight. Nevertheless, Christopher remained determined to someday become a pokémon trainer just like the members of his family.

"Chansey!" the chansey cried out. It was pointing at the remaining egg. The egg had just flashed with light again, but only for a moment. Now there were visible cracks on the shell.

"It's hatching!"

Christopher and Nurse Joy rushed over to the hatching egg. Whitney also went over with the blind eevee still in her arms. Katherine quickly dried the "watery" eevee, which instantly returned to its original color as soon as it was taken out of the tub. The other two eevee were still on the stretcher and watched from there. Everyone watched as the cracks spread over the shell. Nurse Joy removed pieces of the shell before asking Christopher to come closer. As he got closer, the shell suddenly burst, sending pieces flying everywhere. Fortunately, they were too dull to be able to cut through the skin, or anything else for that matter.

Everyone was now looking at a smaller-than-normal eevee with ashen fur that gleamed in the light. It just lay on the stretcher with its eyes closed, its body moved as it breathed. Christopher looked at the eevee worriedly. He did not know whether this usually happened or not. He had an idea that it did not.

Nurse Joy and chansey did not hesitate to get to work, hooking eevee up to various medical instruments. "She has a fever. She's burning up," Nurse Joy diagnosed with her hand on the eevee's head, and also verifying that it was female. A look of surprise crossed her face suddenly. "No, wait, she's cooling down now." She then pulled her hand away quickly. For only a moment the body of the eevee looked as if was liquid held in the form of eevee, then it stopped.

"What's going on?" Christopher was scared. His would-be pokémon looked as if they were suffering from some unknown disease. Looking over at Whitney and Nurse Joy, he could tell that they were just as puzzled as the other.

"I really do not know," Nurse Joy said. "Her heart rate is above normal and her body temperature changes randomly. According to this equipment, it seems that its body is struggling to contain something inside. I believe that it's energy." It was obvious when a sudden spark of electricity radiated from the eevee's body. "That's odd...everything has returned to normal: heart rate, body temperature, and she is even in perfect health."

Everyone sighed with relief. Even the other eevee were happy. Katherine and Whitney placed the eevee they were holding on the stretcher with their other brother and sister so they could play. Whitney kept a close eye on the blind eevee to make sure it stayed on the stretcher while trying to see what condition the fifth eevee was in. But the time of peace was short lived.

_"Eeeeee,"_ the smallest eevee shrilled. Once again, her body sparked with electricity, but with more intensity. Both the boy and the nurse standing over her were nearly knocked to the ground. All the instruments near or connected to her received an overload of power and short-circuited. The lights in the room were either emitting strong light or exploding. Then a surge of a different kind of energy rushed through her body and was released, pushing back everyone and everything around it. Eevee's fur was now glowing brightly as it rolled over the stretcher, crying out.

The other eevee were reacting similarly, but were not showing the same symptoms. Just like their sister, they were crying out and fumbling on the stretcher. Their bodies were also shining, but not as brightly as their sister. The humans in the room had no idea what to do. Christopher was trying to get closer to the lone eevee, but was continuously repelled by a bolt of electricity. Chansey also tried to get to eevee to attempt to contain her, but every time she touched eevee, she was electrocuted and nearly blown back by another release of energy.

Outside in the lobby, the other two chansey were hurriedly guiding everyone outside the pokémon center. Any electronic devices connected to the wall were also acting oddly. They had decided it was time to evacuate the hospital when all the mysterious occurrences started.

It went on for a few more second before the little eevee finally calmed down, leaving the hospital room in one large mess. Papers and small instruments were scattered everywhere. Most of the large equipment was still in good working condition while others were damaged beyond repair. Nobody was hurt, but chansey had received some scars from trying to stop eevee. The four eevee on the one stretcher were panting heavily with sweat rolling down their faces. The eevee that caused all the damage alone was now unconscious.

"What just happened?" Katherine asked after rising from behind a bed on the other side of the room. Her hair, as well as everyone else's, was a mess because of the static electricity that had been released. She desperately started fixing it.

"I think that eevee just let out an incredible amount of energy," Whitney said, nudging her head in the direction of the unconscious eevee. "Never in my life have I seen such a thing. Such power like that in an eevee, let alone a newborn one, has never been seen. It's actually impossible." She had a tone of doubt now, after being a witness.

Christopher just looked at all the eevee. He had no idea what was going on. He did not know whether anything good was coming out of this because everything just seemed to be going bad. He went over to each eevee to see if they were all right. They all looked to be in good healthy condition, even the one that had caused the mess. _Are you really okay? You are all going to be my first pokémon. Please be all right._ Katherine moved up beside Christopher and put her had on his shoulder to comfort him.

"I am terribly sorry about the damage we have caused," Whitney was saying to Nurse Joy as she helped her and chansey clean up the room. "We'll pay for all the damages. I promise."

"Thank you," Nurse Joy kindly said. It took several minutes, but the room now looked decent enough to work in. "I fear for those eevee's health. I will need to run some tests to find out if there really is a problem. I think all of you should wait outside."

"Thank you very much," Whitney said. "I was wondering if I could observe what you do. I'm studying pokémon medicine and this would probably be a helpful experience. You know, I attend the Joy University here in Sohto."

"Is that so? It's great to meet a student. Of course you can watch. You could even help."

"Thank you!" Whitney said enthusiastically. She turned to Christopher and Katherine. "You two should probably get some rest and something to eat. You should also call your family, Christopher." She handed them some money and walked them to a nearly empty lobby, which was not as well lit as before. Most of the trainers were still outside while some had already returned inside.

Christopher slumped onto a bench. Katherine said that she would go find something to eat for them. He took out his brother's PokéGear from his pocket and looked over it. _Why did he give me this?_ he wondered to himself. He looked through the saved data in the device and noticed that there were only three phone numbers.

Home

Grandma

Nicholas

_Why would he have his own number in here?_ Christopher looked at the number listed under "Nicholas" and realized that it was not the same number as the one of the PokéGear. He decided to ask his brother about that later, and just call his mother and grandmother for now. Before he could select the phone number, it rang. He answered.

"Chris! What are you still doing there? You need to get to West Amarill _now_."


End file.
